A New Life
by Kyokon-n
Summary: Felicity is a sixteen year old girl from Johto, until her father is moved to Kalos for his expertise in Mega Evolution. Felicity now has to get adjusted to her new life, but there are many surprises in store for her as she travels around Kalos. A better summary will be written at a later date!
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's Note:_** _Kyokon Here!_ **Break** will show distinction from sections of a chapter. And also, I don't own Pokemon!

" _No!"_ I screamed, slamming the door in my mom's face. I screamed in anger as I stormed across my room, flopping onto my bed and burying my face into a fluffy pillow.

"But honey, just-"

"No!" I repeated, glaring as my mom meekly opened the door to my room and followed me to my bed.

"Try to listen," She started, rubbing my back. "This is a great opportunity for your father. His studies on Mega Evolution has gotten him a job in a Kalos, and we have to move with him."

I flipped back on my stomach and tried my best to ignore her. "Kalos is a beautiful place, I'm sure you'll love it. You won't miss Johto at all." She offered, but that only made me even angrier.

I got up and glared some more. Mom had a hopeful smile, but paled when I looked her in the eye. " _Mom._ We've lived in Mahogany Town our entire lives. I don't want to live in any part of Kalos, beautiful or not. I was going to go on my pokemon journey in two weeks mom, _two weeks._ Now that's ruined, all because Dad decided to become a mega evolution expert." She looked down in her lap and wrung the bottom of her apron in her hands.

"Felicity... She begged, her voice quiet.

"You don't get it!" I shouted. Tears pooled in my eyes and I felt my face get hot. " _She didn't_ understand." I thought, but my eyes widened and the tears fell as my mom jumped off of my bed, her fists balled up.

"This isn't just hard for you, Felicity! Ellory and I are dreading this as much as you are! But this is your father's _dream._ He's been working his entire life for this and he deserves our support! _Be reasonable, Felicity."_ She shouted as she stormed off, my mouth hung open as she stomped off to her own room.

I debated getting up to apologize, but then a head poked out from the doorway. Ellory waltzed into my room, her Glameow hugged tightly to her chest as she pouted. Her curly blonde hair bounced behind her as she pulled my rolling desk chair across from me and sat down.

I moved to cross my legs under me as she sighed. "So we're really moving to Kalos?" She asked, stroking her pokemon's back as she pouted some more.

"Yeah, I guess…" I trailed off, looking at the doorway again. "This is so unfair. I wanted to travel around Johto, Dad has ruined _everything._ " I whined. Ellory nodded sympathetically, but it was clear she didn't understand. She already had a pokemon, but Glameow was a pet, not a fighter. She never wanted to be a trainer, she hadn't dreamed of getting her first pokemon, hers was bought in the Goldenrod Pet Shoppe.

Ellory swiveled around in the chair as she thought. "I know, but Johto already had Professor Elm. Dad's kinda famous thought, right?" She perked up at the thought, "So, we're kinda famous now too?" She grinned, "This is too cool!" She chirped, and I huffed and threw a pillow at her. Her blue eyes narrowed as she ducked, and she gripped Glameow tighter.

"I'm just trying to make the best out of this situation." She growled, and her attempt to be scary made me smile a little.

"Thanks, Ell." I said, getting up and pushing her in the chair. She squealed as she rolled back, and I giggled. " _Well, at least Ellory is coming with me."_ I thought as she jumped out of the chair. Glameow fell to the ground, and with a grumble, stalked out of the room. "Let's go get something from the souvenir shop." I decided, pulling her by the arm.

"Oooh, buying stuff always makes me feel better!" She giggled behind me as we ran out of the door.

 **Break**

I sat with my feet in the shallow end of Lake Rage, and stared at the sky as the sun set. I splashed my feet around in the water as I thought about how much I'd miss Johto. I trailed my fingers around in the dirt as I felt more tears forming in my eyes. All I could think about was how unfair this was.

"This is not how this was supposed to go!" I shouted to no one in particular, but to my surprise, I got a response.

"Not how what was supposed to go?" A deep voice said behind me. Pryce, the gym leader, sat beside me, and smiled down with genuine interest. Everyone in Mahogany Town adored Pryce. He wa a strong and stern gym leader, but was very kind to the townsfolk and helped out when he could. "Care to chat a little?" He asked, smiling again.

"Dad got a job in Kalos. We're moving," I said sadly, looking out into the lake. I pulled my feet out of the water and tucked my knees under my chin. "Am I being childish? I yelled at my own mother for Arceus' sake! I just… I don't know." I twirled a strand of my long black hair around a finger as I talked.

Pryce nodded and stared at the lake with me. "It's understandable. You've lived here your entire life, I watched you climb a tree beside this very lake and break your wrist when you were six." He patted me on the shoulder, "You came to me when your little sister got a pokemon before you and you were upset. When you mother decided to let you go on a pokemon journey, you asked me which pokemon you should choose."

I thought about all the things he said. Pryce was right, this was my home. Chilly, small, Mahogany Town was my home, and despite how small, and even boring, it was, I didn't want to leave.

"You think it's unfair." He finished, and I nodded quietly.

"Yeah…" I sniffled. "I just want to stay here."

"I think you should go." Pryce decided. I whipped my head around in shock. He was supposed to me on my side! "Kalos is a new place, and you might enjoy living there. You're upset, and you're scared. But I think it will be a good experience for you." I stumbled for an argument, but he smiled softly again and interrupted me before I started talking. "You're a smart young lady, you'll be just fine." He said, patting my pack.

"But it's hard," I said finally.

"I know, but if life was easy it wouldn't be worth living." He chuckled, "Here," He said, unwrapping his white scarf from around his neck. "Remember home with this," He said as he placed it in my hands. It was soft and fluffy, it clearly kept him warm as he trained in Ice Path. A Mahogany Town gym badge was pinned to the corner of the scarf, and I fiddled with it as tears slid down my face. Pryce stood up and helped me up after.

"I'll take you home," He said gently. I only nodded as I continued to cry, holding Pryce's scarf close to my chest. "It will get easier," he said as we walked down Route 43. "You'll be just fine."

 **Break**

It was pitch black by the time Pryce knocked on my door, and as my mom opened the front door I panicked. I was gone for a long time and didn't tell Ellory where I was going, she was probably worried sick after our fight.

"Felicity!" She gasped, pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back, relieved she wasn't screaming but the gym badge was digging into my sternum so I pulled away.

"I apologize, Mrs. Sycamore, Felicity was with me and I lost track of time." Pryce said, smiling at her. "Oh, and congratulate Augustine for me, Felicity told me he got a job in Kalos."

"I will, you've been such a good friend to us." Mom responded, smiling back. "Would you like to come in for dinner? I just put it on the table." She moved out of the doorway to invite him in, but Pryce politely declined.

"I would love too, but I really should be getting back to the gym. The gyms are about to reopen for the season and I have to start preparing." I felt another pang of sorrow as he mentioned trainers challenging gyms, but I tried to hide it. Pryce said goodbye and gave me one more pat on the head before walking back to the gym, and I went inside.

"Honey, I'm sorry." Mom apologized as I shuffled to the table. Cheese stuffed pasta and various other dishes were laid out on the table, and I realized every dish was one of my favorites as I sat down. "I should have been more sensitive about moving, I know this isn't what any of us really wants." She strode to the hallway and yelled for Ellory and then sat down across from me at the table. "I shouldn't have yelled."

I grabbed a spoonful of pasta and dumped it on my plate. "I shouldn't have either, this isn't your fault." I said in between a mouth full of noodles. Ellory pulled a chair out next to me and began piling her plate full of food.

"Kalos might not be that bad…" I thought outloud, running Pryce's scarf through my fingers.

"Wonderful," Mom said cheerfully as she fed Glameow a noodle. "We leave tomorrow."

Ellory and I both dropped out forks, " _TOMORROW?"_ We both shrieked.

Mom shrunk back in her chair. "You didn't know that?"

We both groaned.

 **Break**

The morning sun shone through the window of my empty bedroom. The movers had finished taking the furniture out of my room a while ago, and I was alone as I stood in the middle of the room looking it over, and thought about my childhood. I made blanket forts with Ellory and almost caught one on fire when we put a lamp in one.

…

" _This will work!" Ellory giggled as she pulled my desk lamp out of the socket and wiggled under the makeshift door of our fort._

" _Now we can color in here!" I squealed as I scattered crayons around the floor. We flipped through coloring books of pokemon after she plugged the lamp in, and soon had pictures scattered around us._

" _Look at this!" I announced, holding up a colored picture of a Flareon in Ellory's face._

" _Cute," She responded, pulling the picture out of my hand. "It's so good, I can smell it!" She laughed, rolling on her back._

" _I can too." I said, giggling along with her, until she stuck a purple crayon up my nose and continued laughing her head off._

" _OH ARCEUS!" Mom screamed, pulling a flame covered blanket off of over us. She threw it on the ground and stomped on it with her house slippers until it was nothing but smoke and ashes._

 _Ellory and I both gaped wide-eyed at her as she looked us over for burns. "Thank Arceus you're okay," She sighed, hugging us close._

" _Are our crayons okay?" Ellory asked, her voice muffled from the hug._

" _They might be a little melted, but we won't tell Daddy that I'll get you a new pack if you promise to never do that again."_

…

Or what about the time I snuck out of the window to go to Lake Rage when I was thirteen and had a crush on a boy from New Bark Town. I giggled as I thought about it as I trailed my hand over the window pane and looked outside.

…

" _Here, put you foot on my shoulder I'll help you down." Ethan said, squatting down. I twisted and lowered myself onto him, but we both fell and broke into a fit of laughter as we brushed dirt off ourselves._

" _SHH!" I said, putting my hand over my mouth to quiet my giggles._

 _Ethan grabbed my hand and pulled two pokeballs out of his sweatshirt pocket, "Come on, let's go down to the lake. "Race ya, choose one." He grinned down at me, and I smiled back as I picked one. We both threw them, mine had a Pidgeot and his a Rapidash._

" _Good choice." He said, getting on to his Rapidash. "Now, be gentle, she hasn't flown before." Ethan told his Pidgeot, who ruffed it's wings and swooped down to let me on._

" _Is this safe?" I asked, wrapping my arms around the giant bird._

" _Does that matter?" He asked, turning the bill of his hat behind his head. "Last one to the lake gets pushed in!" He said._

" _Ready… GO!"_

…

I thought about all the things I've done until my mom yelled from the kitchen, telling me everything was packed and we were ready. I leaned on the door to the room I lived in for sixteen years, and looked it over one more time before closing it.

It was time to go.

 **Author's Note:** What do you thinkso far? Read and Review, and PM me any OC's you'd like like in the story!


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Pokemon!**

Vaniville Town was smaller than a city, but bigger than Mahogany Town. Two rows of town homes were lined up against the edge of the town, a small stone brick fence sectioned off each house, several flower gardens were spread out across the town.

I grudgingly followed Mom through the gate to the city, but as much as I wanted to hate Vaniville Town, _it was beautiful._ Mom pointed to a town home with ivy creeping across the stone fence and a tree in the front yard. Her Rhyhorn was already here and out of his pokeball, and happily dozing on a blanket under the tree.

"Here we are! Your stuff has already been unpacked." Mom said cheerfully as she unlocked the door. I only mumbled a response as I slid past her, and stomped up the stairs after she told me where my new room was.

"This sucks," I thought as I flung the door open. All of my stuff was there, but there was an extra few things sprawled across my bed. "What?" I thought as I looked over the things on my bed. A white traveling bag, a pokemart bag of supplies, a few various tins and cases, and a trainer card was placed over a new outfit.

"I can't keep you here." Mom stood behind me, with a tearful smile. "It's not Johto, and you won't get a Cyndaquil, but…" She shrugged and wiped her eyes. I ran towards her with a hug, and we both stumbled back with the force of the hug.

"Thank you mom, thank you so much!" I gushed, a mouthful of her hair in my mouth. We pulled apart, and she sighed.

"You're so much like your father. I'm lucky I kept you here as long as I did." She laughed, "Everything you need is on your bed. Don't worry, everything is already set up. Pack your stuff up, and go next door. You'll be going to the next town over with two other kids in town." She rubbed my arm, "Need some help getting ready?" She asked, and I nodded.

"Thanks mom," I said again. She pulled me over to my bed.

"You really are your father's daughter." She repeated, ruffling my dark hair before handing me the new outfit. "Try this on, I got it in Lumiose City when I visited your father. I'm sure you'll love it, you may be alike to your father but thankfully you got my fashion taste." She giggled.

"You're the best, mom." I said, hugging her one more time before running to the bathroom to change.

" _Kalos isn't so bad after all!"_ I thought, accidentally slamming the bathroom door in excitement.

 **Break**

I smoothed out the blue high waisted skirt and tucked in the white sleeveless shirt as I knocked on the next door neighbor's door. I decided to omit Pryce's scarf, but it was tucked in my traveling bag to use when I went up north. I did put the Mahogany Town badge that was on the scarf onto a chain to wear around my neck, it hung down to my chest and shone slightly in the sunlight.

I was worried about the way I look, but that thought disappeared as the door opened. A guy around my age opened the door, with an intent look on his face. He wore a blue tracksuit with a black t shirt under it.

"You Felicity?" He asked, looking me over. He opened the door further, and stepped out beside me. His sneakers scuffed across the steps as he walked, "I'm Calem, welcome to Vaniville." He awkwardly stuck his hand out and I took it just as awkwardly.

"Uhm, hi." I said with a small smile. "Thanks." I said with a hurry, shoving my hands in my skirt pockets.

"You, uuh, look nice." He said, a faint blush coming over his face as he looked down at my outfit.

"Thank y-"

"Hi!" A tan girl with brown pigtails came running up to Calem and I. She had on a frilly pink and black top, and matching jean shorts. "You must be the new girl, Ellory!" She said, grabbing me into a hug an Ursaring would be proud of.

"Ellory is my sister, my name is Felicity." I corrected her, detaching myself from the tiny yet strangely strong girl.

"Oh gosh, that's embarrassing." She said with a sheepish grin.

"This is Shauna, she's a little… well strange." Calem snickered behind a hand.

I grinned back at him, "No problem," I waved it off, "So is this everyone?" I asked. It wasn't Johto, but I was ready to get my first pokemon.

"Yeah," Calem said, "Trevor and Tierno are already in Aquacorde Town, we'll meet them there." He told us.

"Let's go then! Oh, I'm so excited, let's go Felicity!' Shauna squealed, dragging me by the strap of my bag. I looked back at Calem, but he only grinned evilly at me.

"Better you than me." He snickered, jogging in front of us. "I'll lead the way."

 **Break**

"Calem's like an expert on this stuff." Shauna explained, gripping me with the force of a Metagross. He walked on the left side of me down Vaniville Pathway, Shauna on the other. It was a short walk, I could already see Aquacorde Town. Shauna was blabbing about something, "Professor Sycamore chose us to get pokemon! I wonder how he knew about you, since you just moved and all ya'know," she babbled on.

"Oh, I'm-" I was about to tell them who I was, but for some reason I decided not too.

"What?" Calem asked, looking at me curiously.

"I'm sure my mom had something to do with it," I said quickly, "I was going to travel around Johto, but we moved here." It wasn't technically a lie, right?

"That sounds awful… Oh we're here!" Shauna detached herself from me and ran past several tables to two other guys.

"This way," Calem said, grabbing my arm to lead me like Shauna, but much more gentle.

We both quickly walked to the table with Shauna and the two other people sitting there. Calem pulled a chair out for me and sat beside me.

"Everyone, this is Felicity." A rather large guy grinned and gave me a thumbs up.

"Shauna's description was off… I thought she was a blonde with a cat pokemon, but this is cool too." He said.

"Yeah, that's my sister, Ellory." I said, giving Shauna a sideways look.

"Whoops?" She shrugged and scrunched her face up.

"That's Tierno. And the redhead is Trevor." He said, pointing to the small redhead. "He's a little shy."

"Hey, let's see the pokemon!" Shauna decided, opening the black box in tghe center of the table. "I wanna see my new pokemon!" I was curious too, I didn't know much about the pokemon in Kalos.

"It was so great when Trevor and I met our pokemon!" Tierno gushed.

"You already got yours?" Calem asked.

"We got ours when we picked up the Pokedex's from Sycamore." Trevor said quietly, holding up a pokeball.

"Lucky!" Shauna gasped. "Oh, Felicity should go first!" Shauna said, pushing the box towards me. I looked at Calem to see if it was okay with him, but he smiled and opened it for me.

"Go ahead." He said.

My heart raced as I looked at the pokeballs. A fire, grass, and water symbol was above each ball, but I had no idea what pokemon was inside them. "I was going to pick Cyndaquil in Johto, why not a fire type in Kalos too?" I thought, plucking the fire type pokeball out of the box and setting it in front of me.

"Know what it is?" Calem asked, picking the water type pokemon.

"Not a clue." I responded, rolling the ball around on the table. Shauna grabbed the last one, not bothered by the fact that she didn't get to pick what pokemon she got.

"My partner's Chespin!" She proclaimed, throwing the pokeball in the air. A brown rodent popped out and stood on the ground, looking at Shauna. "We go great together! The two of us are way to cute!" She said, picking him up and squeezing him.

Calem sent his pokemon out as well. A small blue frog popped out, and Calem got out of his chair to kneel down. "Good to meet you, Froakie. I'm Calem." He said, rubbing Froakie under the chin. I watched as his Froakie hopped up to Calem's shoulder, and then everyone looked towards me.

"Aren't you going to release your pokemon and greet it?" Serena asked, cocking her head. I just stared down at the pokeball, then picked it up slowly.

"What is it?" I asked, looking up at everyone.

"It's called a Fennekin. A fire type fox." Calem told me, adjusting his pokemon on his shoulder. "Call it out, and say hello." He said, a reassuring smile on his face.

"Oh…" I said, but tossed the pokeball onto the ground and crouched down. A small orange fox appeared, twitching it's large ears and yawning. I stuck my hand out, and it sniffed it cautiously before licking my finger tips. "Hi, I'm Felicity. I'm your new trainer." I said, scratching it behind the ears.

"Fenne!" It chirped, wagging it's bushy orange tail. It leaped into my lap and snuggled up to me, and I felt a huge grin spread across my face as I wrapped my arms around my new pokemon. I scooped it up, and sat back down with the rest of the kids, and they all smiled at me.

"I think your pokemon likes you." Tierno laughed, watching it lick my chin.

"I hope so," I grinned.

"Oh, pardon me," Trevor said quietly. " I have something from Professor Sycamore." He said, pulling out three pokedex's. "This will help you understand pokemon from a much deeper level," he explained as he reached across the table to hand me a pink pokedex.

"Thanks, Trevor." I said as I flipped open the pokedex. I pointed it at Fennekin, and it read out the information as it scanned my new pokemon.

" _Fennekin, the Fox pokemon. This pokemon can be temperamental, but it tries to do its best for it's trainer. This pokemon loves to chew on twigs. Level five. Gender: Female. Known moves: Scratch, Tail Whip, and Ember."_

"Wow, getting a female starter is pretty rare, you're lucky." Calem nudged my arm with his elbow, and then rubbed Fennekin on the head.

"Ahem," Trevor interrupted, "That pokedex is a high-tech device that automatically records what pokemon you encounter. The professor wants us to go on a journey and complete the pokedex." He announced.

"You've uh, met the professor?" I asked Trevor. I wanted to know what he thought of Dad, but I didn't want to tell him I was his daughter yet.

"Yes, a few times. He's a Mega Evolution expert who has a lab in Lumiose City. He was going to meet us here, but he was too busy." He said, but I could tell he admired my dad.

"Come on, Treves, lighten up. But hey, we should get going." Tierno decided, pushing himself out of his chair. "The professor wants us to go to Santalune Forest and look for Vivilon." He explained to the rest of us, pulling Trevor up out of his own chair.

"Let's go!" He cried out, tossing the much smaller boy over his shoulder and walking the opposite way of Vaniville Pathway. Trevor meekly waved goodbye to us as he was carted off, and the three of us left waved back.

I crossed my legs under me and tucked Fennekin under my chin. "He's, uh, interesting." I said, my brows furrowed as I tried to understand what was going on in Tierno's mind.

"Tierno is the only other kid in Vaniville Town." Calem said, also watching the odd duo walk away.

"What about Trevor?" I asked curiously, turning my attention to Calem.

"He's from Santalune," Shauna piped in, patting Chespin on the head.

"Where's that?" I asked.

"Here, let me show you." Calem said, reaching over to grab my pokedex. He leaned closer beside me and pulled up a map on the dex. Santalune was the closest city to Aquacorde, but rather small compared to the rest of the cities in Kalos.

"Are you going to take the Gym Challenge? I know Calem is," Shauna asked, grinning at us.

"There's a gym in Santalune City. You should try it, you'll have an advantage." Calem said, getting up and grabbing his backpack.

"We've stayed here enough, wanna get out of here?" He asked, holding a hand out. I scooped Fennekin up under one arm and she wiggled up to my shoulder as I grabbed Calem's hand to help me up.

"Let's go to Santalune City together!" Shauna jumped up and got between us, her eyes wide and filled with excitement. "It'll be a challenge!" She grinned and squeezed Chespin tighter until it squeaked. "Oh… Sorry." She made a face.

"Yeah… A challenge." Calem said, and I heard disappointment in his voice. Froakie jumped down to hop beside Calem, who began walking the same direction as Tierno and Trevor.

"What fun." I huffed as Shauna drug me after Calem.

 **Author's Note:** What do you think? Read and review!


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Pokemon!**

Shauna kept talking down Avance Trail. She only stopped when Calem called us over.

"Do you know how to catch a pokemon?" He asked us once we caught up.

"Calem's parents are amazing trainers!" Shauna added, but then scrunched her face up, "How do you catch a pokemon?" She asked.

"I already know how." I told him. He looked a little shocked, but then grinned.

"Really? How much do you know about pokemon then?" He asked, shoving me a bit.

"A lot actually," I shot back, grinning along with him.

"Are your parents trainers too, Felicity?" Shauna asked.

"Something like that…" I responded. "But I'll skip the tutorial for now, I don't have any pokeballs anyway." I shrugged, and Fennekin licked my chin from in my grasp.

"That's where you're wrong!" He said smugly. "I'm going to give you one because I'm so nice." He pulled a small pack out of his backpack and pulled out ten pokeballs. "Here, I'm sure these will come in handy." He said as he handed them to me, then dug some more out for Shauna.

"I thought you could only carry six pokemon with you?" I asked, dumbfounded by the amount he gave me.

"I thought you knew everything," He asked, and I glared in response. "Kalos is trying something new with it's trainers. You're allowed to carry ten pokemon with you, but the standard six pokemon battle rules still apply."

"But you gave us ten pokeballs?" Shauna asked.

"You aren't guaranteed to catch something every time." I told her, putting my pokeballs away.

"Looks like you do know some things." Calem added, but I just stuck my tongue out at him. "We'll meet you in Santalune Forest, okay?" He asked, and I nodded.

"Sure, I'll go ahead while you teach Shauna." I waved goodbye to them both, and started my way to Santalune.

"Bye, Lil' F!" Shauna shouted, and I grimaced at the nickname.

"Really?" I shouted as I stopped walking.

"LITTLE F!" Calem shouted, but I felt myself smiling as I ducked into the forest.

 **Break**

The forest was dark, sunlight seeped through breaks in the leaves, but the forest was shady and cooler than the trail I left Shauna and Calem at. There were signs to navigate travelers throughout the forest, and well worn paths were spread out across the forest floor. Fennekin jumped down from my arms to walk in front of me, swishing her tail and trotting proudly. I smiled slightly at her proud demeanor, and thought about what other pokemon I wanted. I had a whole team of Johto pokemon planned out, but I guess I would have to rethink it. But, I did have more options, and in Kalos I could carry ten pokemon.

" _A Politoed,"_ I thought to myself, " _I always wanted a Politoed. I'll have to ask Calem…"_ I started, but narrowed my eyes and corrected myself. " _What does he know? I'll ask my dad when I get to Lumiose City."_ I decided.

"Fennekin!" I shouted, breaking my thoughts. She had ran too far ahead and into the grass. I could only see her fluffy tail poking out of the grass, and it was swishing. "What are you doing?" I called out, running to catch my pokemon. She yipped and pounced right before I got to her, catching a small red and gray bird in her paws.

"Let go of it!" I demanded, and after some reluctance, she let the tiny bird go. We both watched it flutter away back into the treetops, and after the bird disappeared, Fennekin pawed at my foot with her paw and a pitiful expression.

"What's wrong?" I asked, scooping her up and brushing the dirt off her fur. She whined a bit more before jumping out of my arms and running through the grass again. "You want to battle?" I asked, and her happily yipping confirmed my question.

" _She's energetic at least,"_ I thought as I chased her through the grass, smiling but then scolding her when she pounced on another bird. "Let's find another trainer to battle," I suggested, sighing in relief as she ran back over to me. "They'll probably be stronger anyway."

"Fenne!" She chirped, running in circles around me to speed my pace.

"I'm sure there are more trainers further in the forest, let's just not get lost." I said, but getting lost had never occurred to me before that. I looked around the forest, and realized I didn't know where we were. I had chased Fennekin into a big patch of grass, and now I couldn't see the path. "Fennekin… ?" I asked cautiously, taking in my surroundings. There was almost no sunlight where we were, and all I saw around us was grass.

"Oh no!" I wailed, "We're lost!" I began trembling, and Fennekin pawed my leg try to comfort me. I picked her up and hugged her to me, "Do you know how to get out?" I began walking in a random direction, thinking any path we found would be better than being stuck in the grass. Fennekin shook her head, her peppy mood gone. "How are we going to get out?" I cried out, and I felt nervous tears form. I started running through the grass, but how panicked I was only escalated with my pace. "Noooooo, no no no nooo!" I yelled, and Fennekin started whining with me. I stopped to catch my breath, and sank to my knees. I snuggled into my pokemon and tried to calm myself down. " _I'll be okay,"_ I tried to convince myself, " _Calem and Shauna are going to travel through the forest soon, right? And Trevor and Tierno are in here looking for a, uh, Vivilon?"_ I calmed down a bit and that thought, but I got angry instead.

"No." I decided, standing up and brushing myself off. " I'm not going to depend on them. I have to get out of this myself." I said quietly to myself, and Fennekin gave me an encouraging yip. "Let's go." I said to my pokemon, but something big dropped from the treetops in front of me. I screamed and fell back, dropping Fennekin and scrambling back.

The dark object stood up to full size, but Fennekin jumped in front of me and shot an Ember at it. With the flames, I saw that our attacker was a woman, with an angry expression on her face.

Dark green eyes stared down at me, "You are lost." It wasn't a question, it was more of a statement. The voice was strong, and thick with a foreign accent, but where she was from I couldn't tell. I nodded meekly, and in the dim light I saw her stick her hand out. "I will help." She said as she pulled me up.

"Thanks, but, how are we going to get out?" I asked, looking around. "Do you know your way through the forest?" I said.

"No." She said plainly. My hopes were almost shattered, but I heard rattling and then a flash of light. A huge bird pokemon appeared, and began ruffling its feathers before the foreign woman began looking for something else. "Here," she said to her pokemon, and I strained my eyes to see her hand her pokemon something, and then another bright flash of light blinded my vision.

The pokemon grew several feet in height, and now towered over me and the woman. "We need your help, get us to the paths." She told her pokemon, then looked at me. "You and you pokemon get on. My Pidgeot will not hurt you." She said, then got down on one knee. "Get on." She ordered.

"Come on, Fennekin." I bent down to pick her up, then crawled up onto the oversized Pidgeot. I wrapped an arm around it's neck, and the other gripped my pokemon tightly. The woman hopped on effortlessly behind me, and asked me if I was ready. "I guess," I said nervously, and she chuckled shortly.

"You will not fall. My Pidgeot is flawlessly trained." She explained. "Let's go." She told her pokemon, who began flapping it's colossal wings to get us into the air. Fennekin whined slightly, and I tried to not look down as we rose.

" _Don't look down, don't look down!"_ I thought to myself, clenching my eyes shut tightly as the wind blew past my face. We weren't in the air for very long, but I kept my eyes shut until I heard her tell her pokemon to land. Pidgeot veered to the right, and I gripped it's neck tighter as we turned and let out a scream.

"Arceus, let us land!" I screamed, and heard more laughter.

"Here is fine," She said, and the huge bird glided into landing. I finally opened my eyes and as soon as I saw ground, I jumped off and sat down on the ground. Fennekin flopped down into my lap and I sighed and began scratching behind her ears, but I heard my name being called and looked up.

Calem, Shauna, and another guy I didn't recognize were running towards me. I stood up with Fennekin, but once they got close the woman with the Pidgeot darted in front of me, with the bow and arrows I didn't notice she had drawn and aimed it at Calem.

"Do not come closer." She warned, pulling the arrow tighter. Calem stopped in his tracks and put his hands up, while Shauna grabbed the other kids arm.

"Hey, hey, we just wanted to see Felicity." Calem said. He didn't come any closer, but the woman turned her head to me. Her long silvery blonde hair went down to her back, and fell behind her as she asked me if I knew them.

"Yeah, it's okay." I said, and she removed the arrow and put it back in the holder slung across her back.

"Alright, good." She nodded shortly at Calem, and went over to her pokemon who was preening it's feathers.

"Wow, is that a Mega Pidgeot?" Calem asked, forgetting about me and walking over to it. The woman nodded, and ran her fingers through it's neck feathers until she found a thick blue collar. She then felt it until she pulled a small stone off it, and then the Pidgeot returned to normal. "Where did you get that?" Calem asked, watching in awe as she returned the pokemon and putting the pokeball in a brown leather pouch strapped around her waist.

"I aspire to be a Flying type Gym Leader. My team is all Flying type pokemon." She responded, looking down at him. She was about a head taller than him, but the brown boots she wore only added an inch at the most to her height. She strode to me, her long legs shortened the distance between us quickly.

"But, I don't think there's a Flying type Gym in Kalos?" Shauna piped in, dragging the other kid with her over to us.

"Kiloude City is constructing a Gym Facility. There will be Gyms with every type that isn't already found in Kalos. Only the top trainers in the region will be able to participate in the Gyms. I am training to be the Flying Gym Leader." She informed us all, and I felt incredibly small compared to this future Gym Leader.

She wore what looked like sharp silver bird feathers in her hair, pulling back the hair on the right side of her face. She wore a top that looked more like armor, it was made of silver metal and ended just above the middle of her stomach. Gold bands on either side of the top tightened it to fit her form, and the loose skirt she wore looked as if it was made of metal too. It was sectioned into three gold leafs that ended mid thigh, with several smaller silver leafs under the larger gold ones. A gold metal sleeve was on her left forearm, it ended in a point on the back of her hand, and what looked like a key stone embedded in the arm plate. A small leather pouch was strapped around her waist, and the pouch that held her arrows was draped around shoulder. She held the bow in her hands, and her green eyes looked at me strangely as we both realized I was staring. I began to apologize, but she shoved a hand in the pouch around her waist and pulled a picture out.

"Have you see this pokemon?" She asked us, showing the picture to everyone. It was a small red and gray bird, and I nodded as I remembered the bird Fennekin chased.

"I've seen one in this forest." I told her. Calem and Shauna nodded as well, and the guy I didn't know smugly nodded.

"I caught one earlier." He said, showing off a pokeball. He had another pokeball strapped to the belt looped through his jeans, and I wondered what it was.

The woman pushed past Calem and Shauna to stick her hand out in front of the kid. "Give it to me." She demanded.

"What? No way, go catch your own!" He said, clipping it back to his belt. "They're everywhere in this forest." He told her, pointing behind him, "I found mine back there before I met Shauna and Calem.

She huffed, but turned to me. "You are Felicity?" My name sounded weird with her accent.

"Yes, thank you, uh…"

"Asunta." She said, and stuck her hand out. "Do not get lost again. I must go, a Talonflame is the last pokemon I need for my team. I need to find a Fletchling soon if I want to use it in my Gym battles." She said.

"Bye, thank you again," I said, and she said goodbye to the rest of the group before striding away.

"You got lost?" Calem asked me, finally paying some attention to me.

"How scary!" Shauna gasped.

"Yeah, Asunta helped me find my way out of the grass." I told them, and Fennekin yipped in agreement.

"Crazy she-woman helped you?" The kid I still didn't know the name of asked in shock.

"Yes," I shot back, "She was a lot of help." I added. "Who are you, anyway?" I asked him.

"I'm Jake," He informed me, "I'm going to be the Champion of Kalos." He added, and I rolled my eyes.

"We met him when we came into Santalune Forest!" Shauna explained, "He's going to travel with us, isn't that great, Lil' F?" She asked in her usual cheery tone.

"Lil' F?" Jake asked with a smirk. I shot him and Shauna a glare, but I told them it was fine with me. Fennekin whined and headbutted my leg, and I looked down at her. She sat on her hind legs and whined again, and I remembered my promise to her.

"How about a battle?" I asked Jake, who grinned and nodded.

"One on one?" He asked, unclipping a pokeball. He shined it on his King T-Shirt before continuing, "I just caught Fletchling so it's still pretty weak, but I have another pokemon."

"I'll referee." Calem offered, and Jake and I spread out in the forest.

"Ready when you are!" I yelled to him, and Fennekin scampered to stand in front of me.

" _My first battle!"_ I thought with excitement.

 **Author's Note:** Special thanks to jjforlife015 for his OC, make sure to review or PM with any comments or suggestions you might have!

~Kyokon


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Pokemon!**

"The match will be one on one, Jake using his Shinx versus Felicity and Fennekin!" Calem announced. Jake threw his pokeball, revealing his Shinx. Sparks fizzled under each of it's front paws, and it crouched in a pouncing battle position.

"Get ready, Fennekin!" I said, grinning as I pumped my pokemon up. She yipped and darted from side to side, and both pokemon eagerly waited for Calem to start the battle.

"Begin!" He shouted, and Jake and I both started calling orders. He ordered a tackle as I called for an ember, and both pokemon launched themselves at each other. Fennekin landed her Ember attack, but was also hit with Shinx's tackle. The pokemon separated and waited for their trainers to give further commands.

"Use Spark!" Jake decided. More sparks emerged from Shinx, and it's fur crackled with electric energy.

"Tail Whip, and then Ember! Just watch out for the electricity!" I warned her. She ran to Shinx again, who growled and released several large sparks, but Fennekin dodged the move and twirled around, wagging her bushy tail in Shinx's face. Shinx yowled until Fennekin finished her attack, but let loose a large Ember attack dead on Shinx.

"Shinx!" Jake yelled, nervously waiting for his pokemon to shake off the move. Shinx was breathing heavy, but gave a small "Shinx" in assurance that he could still battle.

"We've almost got this, Fennekin!" I shouted, my joyful attitude had spread to my pokemon, who pounced from side to side, ready for Shinx to attack again. "Tackle, as hard as you can!" I suggested.

"Spark again!" Jake ordered. Shinx charged it's fur again, "Do your best!" He said, and Shinx's fur spiked up even more with it's trainers encouragement.

Fennekin ran to her opponent, but as soon as she got close, Shinx let go of all his electric build up. Fennekin yipped in panic as she fell to the ground a few inches from Shinx, and both looked ready to faint.

"Don't give up Fennekin!" I pleaded. She struggled to get up, and once she did, she breathed out a small stream of of embers at Shinx. After getting hit, Shinx wobbled before falling over on it's side.

"Shinx is unable to battle, Felicity and Fennekin are the winners!" Calem declared, and I cheered.

"We won!" I said gleefully, but directed my attention to my pokemon instead of my victory. I scrambled to dig potions out of my bag and ran to my pokemon. She lifted her head slowly and wagged her tail as I sprayed the potions on her, and soon as I was done spraying the potion on her, she was back to her cheerful state.

"That was a good battle, your Shinx is pretty good," I said to Jake as he healed his own pokemon. After his Shinx was fully healed, he stood up and nodded.

"Yeah, that was great! We'll have to battle when we're both more experienced trainers." He said.

"That was intense!" Shauna said. She bounced up and down where she stood, "You guys are both great trainers!" She squealed.

"Yeah, you both did well. It looks like your pokemon like each other too." Calem pointed out. Both Shinx and Fennekin were sniffing and pawing at each other, before touching noses.

"How cute!" Shauna giggled.

"They like each other," I smiled, watching the two pokemon play fight with each other.

"Hey guys, I think we should try to get out of the Forest, it's gonna be dark soon." Jake pointed out, looking at his pokedex. "It's getting late."

"What, are you afraid of the dark?" I teased, and Jake instantly denied.

"Jake is right, Santalune is up ahead." Calem quickly stopped our conversation. "Let's go, I know the way." He said.

"Calem's been through this forest tons of times, he's so smart!" Shauna gushed. She followed behind him as he led the way out of the forest, and Jake and I walked behind them with our pokemon.

"Calem's kinda bossy," Jake whispered to me, watching as Calem ordered Shauna to pick up something he saw further along the trails.

"He's not so bad." I responded. "He's nice, even if he is kinda- OW!" I screamed, clutching my hand to my chest. It stung, almost as if it I had gotten shocked.

"What's wrong!" Both Calem and Jake asked, and both rushed to look at my hand. Fennekin yipped and sniffed the air, but couldn't find anything and nuzzled my leg to comfort me.

"What happened?" Calem asked, gently looking at my hand. There was no mark indicating I had been attacked, but it still stung.

"I don't know, something happened to my hand, it really hurts." I whined. I was looking over my hand, and then the same shocking pain stung my ear. "OWW!" I gasped, and grabbed my earlobe. "It happened again!" I cried out.

"What's going on?" Shauna asked, jogging back to us. She looked around at us and saw me near tears in pain, "What's wrong, Lil' F?" She asked again.

"Something is hurting Felicity," Jake said, looking at me with a worried expression.

"I think I'm okay now guys," I started, and then screamed again. A huge shock spread out through the side of my shoulder, and I yelped again. "What is that!" I asked angrily, whirling around, to see a small Pikachu grinning and looking up at me.

"Piika!" It squealed, sparks crackling on its cheeks.

"YOU!" I shouted angrily. Not fully realizing what I was doing, I dug in my bag and grabbed a pokeball, wanting something to throw at the Pikachu. I threw the ball at the electric pokemon, who made no move to avoid the ball. It was sucked into the ball, and the pokeball shook a few times before sparks flew, indicating I had caught the Pikachu.

"Woah, you caught it." Jake said in shock.

"I guess I did." I said, just as shocked as Jake. "I didn't mean too, I was just angry." I explained, looking down at my new pokemon.

"What are you gonna do with it?" Shauna asked.

"I don't know…" I trailed off, putting the pokeball in my bag. "Let's get out of here, I'll figure it out tonight after we get to the Pokemon Center." I decided.

"Felicity is right, we need to get out of here." Calem said. "We're just a few minutes away anyway." He said.

"Let's hope I can make it to Santalune without getting hurt or lost." I muttered.

 **Break**

"This is Ouvert Way, right?" Shauna asked Calem, who she had by the arm. Calem was clarly trying to detach himself from Shauna, but she had a firm grip on his upper arm.

"You've never been this far from Vaniville, right?" Calem asked, looking back at me with a smile.

"I've been to Lumiose City, once." I said, smiling back. " _Calem has a nice smile…"_ I thought, but I was thankful it was dark after I realized I was blushing. "Where are you from, Jake?" I asked, trying to change the topic.

"Sinnoh," He said with a yawn. "How far are we from the next town? I'm exhausted." He said, throwing his arm around me and leaning. "Carry me there." He demanded, but I shoved him off with a giggle.

"You should be the one carrying me!" I giggled back, and Calem irritatedly interrupted us to say Santalune was just down that staircase.

"Fine then!" Jake smirked and scooped me up under my knees, running past Calem and Shauna. "Coming through!" He shouted, laughing with me until he tumbled down the stairs, causing us both to fall. We both started laughing, until Calem shoved past Jake and stomped into Santalune City.

"What's his deal?" Jake asked me as we got up, but I just shrugged.

"I don't know, but we should probably go check on him." I said, looking towards the direction Calem stormed off too.

"Shauna, you coming?" Jake asked. She nodded and scuttled down the stairs to us.

"Calem seems upset…" She said sadly. "He said he was going to check out a room in the PokeCenter, let's go there." She said, pointing to the red building in front of us as we walked into Santalune City.

"Okay, let's all get some rooms and then go find Calem." Jake said. "See what's got his panties in a wad." He chuckled, but I pushed him lightly as we walked through the PokeCenter automatic doors.

"Something really must be bothering him." I said worriedly.

"Yeah…" Shauna agreed. "Hey, I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick, Don't wait up!" Shauna said quickly before darting off.

"She's weird." Jake said, staring at her as she bounced away. We both walked up to Nurse Joy, who smiled and asked what we needed. "Two rooms, please." Jake answered, "And, can you heal our pokemon too?" He asked.

"Sure, you both can put your pokeballs on this," She turned to grab a tray, "And they'll be ready by morning." She told us, and began typing on the desktop behind the counter to reserve our rooms.

Jake and I both put our pokeballs on the counter, but I hesitated before I put my Pikachu's pokeball in. "Uhm, Nurse Joy?" I tried to get her attention as I dropped the ball in.

"Yes, what can I help you with?" She asked with a smile.

"A Pikachu started shocking me in Santalune Forest, and I caught it. But now I don't want to let it out of it's pokeball if it's going to zap me every time it sees me." I said, unconsciously rubbing my hand where I was shocked.

"Well, when some wild pokemon sees potential in a trainer, sometimes it provokes them into battle in hopes it will be caught. Your Pikachu might really like you, I would let it out once it's fully healed." She explained, and I let out a relieved sigh.

"Thanks, that's good to know." I said, and she smiled again before handing Jake and I two room keys.

"Your rooms are 106 and 107. We have a breakfast buffet in the morning, and all you have to do is give your name and I'll give you your pokemon back." She told us, "Goodnight, you two." She said, but I remembered Calem and interrupted her work one more time.

"Excuse me, can I have a trainer named Calem's room number?" I asked, and she nodded.

"One moment, I'll look him up. Here, his room number is 104. Are you friends with him?" She asked, and her expression made it clear she was concerned.

"Yeah, we're traveling together." I responded.

"Good, he came in here out of breath and clearly upset. Make sure he cheers up, okay?" She asked me, and I nodded

"That's my plan!" I said with a smile.

Jake and I walked down to the hallway where the dorms were, and soon found Calem's room. The door was shut, but I stopped in front of it anyway. "You got this?" Jake asked me with a yawn.

"Yeah, I'll talk to him." I said with a reassuring smile. "You can go to bed, night." I said, and he called a 'night' over his shoulder as he continued down the hallway. " _He might just irritate him even more."_ I thought as I knocked on the door.

"Calem?" I said quietly as I knocked. I heard shuffling behind the door for a minute but it slowly opened, and a sleepy Calem stood in the doorway.

"What?" He asked me, scratching his stomach over his black pajama top.

"Can I come in?" I asked, with a "duh" expression on my face. He didn't say anything, but moved out of the doorway and shuffled over to flop on the bed provided in the room.

"What's your problem?" I finally asked, sitting on the bed with him. I fiddled with the Mahogany Town Gym badge around my neck nervously as I waited for him to answer, but he never did. He only shoved his face into a pillow and mumbled.

"I don't speak that language," I joked putting my hand on the top of his head. He mumbled some more before turning around and staring at me. "What?" I asked, mocking his attitude at the doorway. I crossed my arms and scrunched my face up, "I'm Calem. I want to be the best pokemon trainer ever but I have a massive stick up my ass." I said grumpily, and that got a reaction out of Calem. He sat up on the bed and pushed me over, before grabbing me by the back of the shirt and pulling me to him.

"You're the pain in my ass, Felicity Sycamore." He corrected me, but I stopped giggling and looked at him wide eyed in shock.

"You know?" I asked nervously, and he nodded and rumpled my dark hair.

"I knew before I met you. My mom told me." He responded, hugging me to him.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked, blushing.

"If you didn't want people to know, I'm not going to go telling anyone. Besides, you acted like that Mega Pidgeot was nothing, and that comment about you going to Lumiose City. That alone was enough proof you had been around Mega Evolution before. Professor Sycamore being your dad was obvious if you already knew like I did." He explained.

"Well, that wasn't my first time seeing a Mega Pidgeot, even if they're still relatively new." I said, thinking out loud.

"Well, Miss Know-it-All, do you know what I'm thinking now?" He asked, looking down at me.

I felt my face get hot, but I tried to ignore it. "I could guess," I said with a smirk.

"Really now?" He asked, and started another sentence but the door was flung open.

"Calem, are you-" Shauna bounded through the doorway, but stopped and gasped once she saw Calem and I, on his bed, both blushing and very close. "I guess I'm interrupting," She said strangely, before slowly walking out of the door and towards the main lobby of the PokeCenter.

"Oh no!" I groaned as I flopped onto the bed. " _She's going to hate me!"_ I thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own pokemon!**

Calem and I looked all through Santalune City for Shauna, but we found absolutely no trace of the usually peppy girl. After looking for over an hour, we both decided to go back to the PokeCenter for the night.

"I wonder where she could be," I said sadly, sitting down and stretching out on a couch in the lobby of the PokeCenter.

"I don't know… I don't know what she's upset about to begin with." Calem shrugged and sat down in an arm chair beside me.

I sat up, looking at him incredulously, "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I don't have a clue." He responded, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Just what I'd expect from a guy." I sighed, and he shot an angry look at me, that I ignored.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, mock hurt in his voice as he pouted.

"Are you dense?" I asked, and he shook his head. " _Shows how much he knows."_ I thought, "She has a crush on you!" I cried out, exasperated and frustrated with his lack of attention.

Calem's mouth fell open slightly, and he stared off into space for a minute. "Oh.." He finally answered, realizing I was right. "I didn't even think about that." He mumbled.

"I wonder why she would pick a moron like you to be crushing on," I joked, punching him in the shoulder lightly as I got up. "We should probably go to bed, we need to get a move on and find Shauna in the morning." I ended, my eyes drooping with how tired I was. " _I didn't expect to spend the night searching for Shauna."_ I thought, but Calem sprinted to me and prevented me from getting my much needed sleep.

"I'm not a moron," he protested, following me down the hallway. We strolled past his room and all the way to mine, and I stopped in front of the door and answered him.

"Yes you are. You didn't know Shauna had a thing for you even though she has dropped _so many_ hints just in what little time I've known you." I scolded him, "Poor girl." I shook my head as I opened the door.

"Wait!" He held the door open, "What am I supposed to do?" He asked me.

I shrugged, "I dunno. But I'm going to bed, you should too." I advised, and shut the door behind me, but I heard him mumble, "But we didn't even do anything!" as I locked the door.

"Yeah…" I whispered as I heard his sneakers shuffle down the hallway, "I know we didn't."

 **Break**

Once I woke up the next morning, I showered and picked up my pokemon before going back to the dorms.

" _I wonder if Shauna is still here,"_ I thought as I knocked on her dorm door. I waited a minute, but heard no movement behind the door. I groaned and gave up, and went to pick up my pokemon from Nurse Joy instead. I looked for Shauna, Jake, or Calem in the lobby, but didn't see any of them as I went up to the counter. Nurse Joy was sitting behind the counter, typing away on the computer until I rang the small bell for service.

"Oh! I didn't see you there, are you here to pick up your pokemon?" She asked, standing up.

"Yes ma'am, and I don't need the room I rented anymore." I informed her, and she clicked a few times on the desktop before asking me to wait there so she could go get my pokemon. I watched her disappear into the back room, and before I knew it she was back with my two pokeballs in hand.

"Here you are," She said as she handed me my pokemon, "All happy and healthy!" She chirped, and I thanked her before heading over to the cafeteria on the opposite side of the dorms. The hallways were all the same, but the smell alone could have led me to the cafeteria. The sugary smell of syrup and pancakes filled the room as I walked into the cafeteria, and my mouth watered as I got in the food line. My concerns for my friends vanished as my plate filled up with pancakes, french toast, and a pool of syrup. I grinned and licked my fingers, completely unaware of my surroundings until someone shoved me and my plate almost fell from my hand.

I whipped around and glared and who did it, and Calem only smirked at my bad attitude. "Didn't know you took breakfast so seriously, Lil' F." He joked.

"Almost as much as a pokemon battle," I grunted, shoving a pancake in my mouth. I pointed to the beginning of the line, "The plates are over there, get one and I'll go find a table." I mumbled through my pancake, walking away with my food. I stuffed another pancake in my mouth as I walked through the cafeteria, pushing through tables filled with pokemon and trainers until I found an empty table near the back of the room. Just as I sat down and happily began munching on my food, I looked up to see Calem towing a very angry looking Shauna by the arm, with Jake trailing behind.

"I found her! And do you know what she said?" Calem snapped, pushing her in front of me. He was wide eyed and out of breath, huffing and puffing as Shauna glared and looked away from me, I felt childish because of my syrup covered face, but she looked to the ground before she said anything.

"I think Jake and I are gonna travel alone for a little while." She quietly explained.

I sat in shock before getting up, "But, why Shauna?" I asked, "If this is about last-"

"It's not!" She interrupted, her fists balled as she looked up and stared at me in anger. "Jake already got his Santalune City Gym Badge, so we don't need to wait around for you two!" She shouted, causing the whole room to fall silent. She twirled on one foot just as Jake had sat down, and grabbed him by the back of the shirt to pull him up out of the chair. "We're leaving!" She demanded, pulling him with her out of the room.

Calem sighed, "I couldn't talk to her without her yelling at me." He sat down and took a pancake off my plate. "I tried to get her to stay, but she was set on leaving…" He said, chewing on a pancake.

"Maybe she just needs some space," I pondered, flopping down across from him, "If she was set on leaving, we couldn't make her stay." I tried to comfort him.

He nodded, and reached for another pancake. "I'll just eat my feelings," he decided, chuckling until I slapped his hand away.

"Hurry up and eat, I have a gym badge to win!" I ordered, shoving food in my mouth quickly. Jake already got his Santalune City badge, I had to get mine too today.

"I have to get it too!" Calem whined.

 **Break**

After breakfast, Calem and I decided to do some training on Detourner Way before we challenged the gym. Calem had already battled a few trainers on the route, but I stuck to finding wild pokemon with Fennekin. She had won every battle she had, and was happily trotting and swishing her tail as he searched for more pokemon. I had carried around Pikachu's pokeball in my hand the entire time, debating whether I should let it out or not.

" _I don't want to get shocked… but I also don't want to keep it cooped up in it's pokeball."_ I thought as I turned the pokeball over in my hand. After deciding to give my new pokemon one more chance, I called Calem and Fennekin over to me.

Calem got there first, and asked what I needed as Froakie jumped onto his shoulder. I held up Pikachu's pokeball and shrugged, "I think I'm going to let it out." I said looking at it once more. "And if it shocks me, then I can let it go at least." I reasoned, then braced myself as I threw my pokeball.

Pikachu appeared in a flash of light, and once it appeared iit sat up and stared at me. Calem and I watched cautiously as it looked around, then waddled towards me on it's hind legs. I bent down slightly in front of it, and stuck a finger out.

"Hello?" I said, wiggling my finger in it's face. It gave a "pika' in response quietly, and touched the tip of my outstretched finger with it's nose. I closed my eyes tightly and waited to be shocked, but to my suprise, I wasn't. Pikachu only nuzzled my hand with it's face and chirped sweetly. I opened my eyes slowly, and sighed in relief once I saw Pikachu wasn't going to shock me.

"I think he likes you," Calem pointed out.

"How can you tell it's a he?" I asked him, and Pikachu flopped down on all fours to scamper over to Fennekin. They both sniffed each other, and became fast friends as Fennekin started chasing Pikachu around the trails.

"Look at his tail," He explained as I looked closer at my pokemon, "It doesn't have a notch in it, so it's a male."

"Hm, I didn't know that." I admitted, before calling my pokemon back over to me.

"Really?" Calem gasped in mock shock, "I thought you knew everything Ms. Pokemon master!" He smirked, and I leaped up off the ground.

"Shock 'em, Pikachu!" I ordered, laughing evilly as Calem screamed as my pokemon shocked him lightly. "Hurts, doesn't it?" I jeered at him as he glared at me.

"Uncalled for, Sycamore." He grumbled. I stuck my tongue out at him, not even minding he knew who I really was. We giggled together for a minute, before Froakie squealed and Fennekin began yipping excitedly. We looked down to see Fennekin soaking wet, and Froakie sizzling from an electric shock. Pikachu's cheeks sparked as him and Fennekin smirked as Calem returned Froakie, but both whined as I got my pokeballs out too.

"You should behave then!" I lectured before they were both returned. "Is Froakie okay?" I asked Calem, and shrugged my worry off and nodded.

"Yeah, he's fine. But hey, let's go to the Pokemon Center then head over to the Gym. I think we've trained enough." He said as he dropped his pokeball in his pants pocket.

"Sure, let's go, My badge isn't gonna win itself." I proclaimed. " _My first Gym Battle!"_ I thought to myself as Calem was giving me battle tips. " _It's not Violet City, but I still can't wait!"_

 **Break**

After waiting for our pokemon to be healed, Calem and I headed to the large building on the left upper edge of the city. "Are you sure this is the Gym?" I asked him, eyeing the stained glass windows and the strange sign at the front entrance.

"Just because all the Gyms look the same in Johto doesn't mean they do here." Calem informed me. "This is Santalune Gym, Viola uses bug type pokemon, so I'd say you have an advantage." He thought outloud.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" I asked, and grabbed his hand and plowed through the glass doors. My determination was cut short after we were both inside and I saw… a rope. There were pictures of bug pokemon lining the walls, and in the middle of the room was a rope leading through a hole in the wall. "What?" I looked over to Calem, who didn't look as shocked as I did.

"You slide down the rope for the actual Gym." Calem explained, pushing me forward. "You can go first, I'll watch." He offered, before asking a rather large man in a bow tie where the observation deck was.

The man laughed heartily and grinned, "Right this way, son!" He clapped Calem on the back, making him fly forwards slightly, but the man didn't seem to notice. "Good luck little lady, I'm sure you'll do great against Viola!" He waved to me before leading Calem behind one of the larger pictures of a Butterfree. I watched them leave, trying to drag out the time before I had to slide down that flimsy looking rope.

"You can't be a pokemon master if you can't slide down a rope!" I taunted myself, before grabbing the rope and taking a flying leap down. I screamed as I felt my skirt fly up, and tumbled onto my butt as I landed on what I _thought_ was the ground, but was quickly sprung back up into the air. I screamed as I was bounced back in forth until I finally landed on the springy surface, and didn't dare to try to stand up. I looked around, only to realize I was on a huge spider web. I looked around to see several Gym Trainers giggling and standing on the web effortlessly, and heard Calem shouting from above.

"Lil' F!" He shouted, and I whirled around until I saw him standing on a deck behind me. "Stand up and get going! Move around the web to get to the wooden deck in front of you!" He told me, and once I looked around, I saw a path to where he was talking about. I stood up slowly and wobbled, before getting enough confidence to start moving. There were several wooden platforms centered around the Gym, and once I figured out where I was going it didn't take me long to reach the first one. A little boy was standing on it, and grinned as I scrambled up to the platform.

"That was quite a fall!" He joked, and I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. "Let's hope you're a better battler than you are coordinated!" He shouted as he threw his pokeball. A Ledyba was called out, and began buzzing around in the air above.

" _Great, a Flying Type!"_ I thought to myself as I threw Pikachu's pokeball. "This will be easy!" I taunted the smaller child, and we both grinned despite our banter in excitement for the battle.

 **Author's Note:** So sorry for the delay, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own pokemon!**

"Thundershock!" I ordered, and Pikachu quickly concentrated on the flying bug and darted closer.

"Avoid it, and use Supersonic!" The Gym Trainer responded. Pikachu kept darting back and forth, but stopped to attack. The Ledyba was knocked out of the air, but on the way down shot waves of energy at Pikachu, who after he was hit, began wobbling and his cheeks began sparking.

"Snap out of it!" I pleaded, watching him wobble. The Ledyba rose back into the air slowly, and it's trainer ordered a tackle attack once it was back in the air. "Use Thundershock again!" I said, and Pikachu struggled to stop wavering and aim an attack. He sent out a bolt of electricity, but it missed our opponent entirely and sent a shockwave through the web in the room. Several trainers yelped and dove to the platforms scattered throughout the room to avoid getting electrocuted. " _I don't blame them,"_ I thought, and quickly apologized before turning back to my battle. Pikachu just sat there as the Ledyba collided with him, but once the bug pokemon made contact with Pikachu, the static on his fur paralyzed it. Ledyba fell to the ground and twitched slightly, but the attack knocked Pikachu out of his confusion.

"Alright!" I cheered, "Let's finish this! Thundershock again, make it a winning blow!" I called out, and my pokemon cheered along with me with a 'pika!" and it's cheeks began sparking more than I had ever seen. My opponent exploded into panic once he saw the amount of electricity Pikachu was giving off, his eyes went wide as he begged and pleaded his pokemon to get up.

"Piika!" As he cried out, the Ledyba had fought its way through the paralysis and was a few inches off the floor, but it made no difference. A huge bolt of electricity shot from either cheek, giving the Ledyba no chance of escape. It landed on the platform with a heavy thud, and the Gym Trainer screamed in protest before running to his pokemon.

He cradled his pokemon to his chest, and his lip quivered as I ran to examine both of our pokemon. Pikachu cheered as I kneeled down, but I ignored him and began digging through my bag until I found a potion. "Here," I offered it to the little boy, "You're a pretty good trainer." I tried comforting him.

He nodded and sniffled, "Thanks," He took the potion and began spraying it over his Ledyba's wings, stomach, and face. "You're pretty good too, even if you can't balance on the web." he joked, wiping his snotty nose on the sleeve of his light blue tshirt.

"Have any tips?" I asked him, picking my Pikachu up and balancing him on my knee. I scratched under his chin as the Gym Trainer advised me to keep both feet on the web, and to keep my arms stretched out as I walked. I returned Pikachu and thanked him for the tips as he returned his own pokemon. I flipped my bag over my shoulder and lowered myself down back onto the web, making sure to follow what the trainer told me.

I shuffled on the thick web towards another platform, and once I got the hang of balancing on the web, it didn't take any time at all to get to the next trainer. " _The web is springy,"_ I thought, and I bent my knees slightly in front of the platform, " _This is going to go really well,"_ I straightened my legs quickly and leaped into the air, " _Or really badly."_

I grinned as I felt my feet hit the sturdy wood of the platform, and the next trainer ran up to me. It was an older boy, around my age, wearing overalls and a straw hat. "Hey, that was pretty sweet!" He said, giving me a thumbs up and a big goofy grin. "Did you know bug types evolve super fast?" He asked. I nodded, and he smirked and tipped his straw hat.

"Well, are you a pokemon master then?" He asked, then turned to leisurely walk across the platform with a hand in his overall pocket. "Or what about a researcher for Professor Sycamore?" He continued, before turning on the heel of his sandals to face me.

"Both!" I informed him with a smile. I pulled out Fennekin's pokeball and twirled it on a finger, my previous win and mastery of the web clearly going to my head. "Let's see which of us is the better trainer," I teased, and He quickly shot back a retort and grabbed a pokeball from the large pocket in the front of his overalls.

"I won't go easy on you!" He joked, and sent out a pokemon before returning the pokeball to his pocket. I sent mine out as well, Fennekin yipped and swished her tail as a gray and white fuzzball appeared. "Spewpa, go!" The trainer shouted.

" _A Spewpa,"_ I acted like I already knew what it was, " _I'll remember that!'_ "This is your first Gym Battle, I know you'll do whatever it takes to win!" I encouraged her, "Fennekin, start with a Tail Whip, then an Ember!" I directed her, and the second trainer quickly retaliated with a tackle.

Fennekin yipped and darted to the Bug pokemon, who tucked its head in the furry lower half of its body. Fennekin circled it a few times before giving up on the Tail Whip order, and started breathing tiny Embers at the hiding pokemon. She did this a few times before Spewpa's head popped out, shocking both my pokemon and I, and in Fennekin's moment of confusion, Spewpa saw an opportunity and smashed its head into Fennekins.

She whined and shook her head, then without my orders began shooting embers at Spewpa in her rage. She alternated between barking and attacking, scratching the pokemon who was now back to hiding, and then twirling around to use her tail as a fan to spread more ember.

"Fennekin, stop!" I cried out, scared not only for the innocent pokemon, but also worried she was going to get us kicked out of the Gym for taking battle too far. I ran to pull her away from Spewpa, but the trainer fumbled to return his pokemon before I sprinted to mine. I wrapped her in my arms, but after she was off the ground I felt her begin to calm down, and start to whine again.

"Your pokemon's vicious!" The Trainer gasped. "Are you training her to be the world's best killer?" He asked before running off to heal his pokemon.

"You can't do that!" I scolded Fennekin. "A pokemon battle can't go to that extent! Just because I said do whatever it takes to win doesn't mean I meant it!" I lectured, and she whined and pawed at the ground in an attempt to apologize. She kept whining and shaking her head, and I felt my anger disappeared as I saw how much pain she was in.

I sighed, "Here, rest in your pokeball. I'll wait until the Gym Battle to use you again, but you can't battle like that anymore, okay?" She nodded and flopped over on the platform, her eyes shut until she was recalled. " _Let's hope that was the last time that'll happen,"_ I thought as I stood with my hands on my hips, trying to find the easiest way to the Gym Leader stage. After a minute of searching, I found a way around the edge of the web that led directly to the stage, and ignored the lingering feeling about my starter pokemon.

I shuffled over the edge of the web effortlessly despite my concerns, and thankfully there were a set of stairs leading to this platform. I took my time walking up the stairs, trying to regain my confidence I had before. I squeezed the Gym Badge around my neck as I reached the last stairs, and stopped once I had gotten on the stage.

Camera and camping equipment were spread out around the stage, An orange tent roof had been set up, and near the back was another set of stairs leading to the front room I came from. A young woman was fiddling with a camera, and I walked over to her, hoping she was the Gym Leader.

She didn't look up, but swiveled the camera on the tripod and snapped a series of pictures me. "Such a determined look, with an undertone that shows this is your first Gym Challenge." She snapped a few more pictures, "A glint in your eye that says you're ready for whatever I throw your way…" She popped her head out from behind the camera. Her blonde hair was pulled back, but several thick strands were loose and framed her round face and green eyes. Another camera was hanging around her neck, and swung as she spun around and in front of the camera on the tripod. "Fantastic!" She sang, "It's just fantastic!" Her loose cargo pants hung low around her waist, and looked as if they were about to fall off her tiny frame with the amount of camera equipment and pokeballs shoved in her pockets. She stopped, grinned, and lifted the small digital camera in front of her face, "Whether it's tears of your frustration and defeat, or blossoming joy that will always come with victory, I'll always catch them on film!" She vowed, and spun again to skip to the back of the stage. I was relieved at how easy going she was, and grinned as she began patting pockets to find pokeballs, and then pulled two out of the lower pocket on the left side of her pants.

"Now," She began, closing her eyes and picking a pokeball in her hand at random, "I am Viola, The Santalune City Gym Leader. Let's begin!" She said, chucking the pokeball towards me. A pink and yellow butterfly pokemon gracefully floated overhead, and once she released it she began snapping pictures of her pokemon.

" _Pikachu's the best choice,_ " I decided, and sent him out. He was still a bit dazed from the last battle, but quickly shook himself and became focused on the battle.

"My lens is focused on victory!" She warned, "And nothing will ruin this shot!" She shot one more picture before letting the camera hang from the strap around her neck. "Vivillon, let's make this dazzling!"

"Alright Pikachu, Thundershock!" I ordered.

"Infestation," Viola said calmly. Vivillon flew above Pikachu, then circled him a few times. Pikachu's cheeks sparked to try to hit the flying pokemon several times, but only managed to hit once or twice. I thought Vivillon's attack missed, and was about to call another attack, until Pikachu began crying out and thrashing.

"Pikachu, what's wrong?" I asked, but he ignored me and began scratching up and down his stomach.

"Infestation is an attack that can drive a pokemon crazy," Viola commented, then ordered a rage powder.

"Pikachu, try another Thundershock! Try to ignore the itching!" I advised, and despite his suffering managed to hit Vivilon with a weak Thundershock before any of the red powder falling from Vivillon's wings touched him. "Great, now Tackle!" I called out, and jumped into the air to headbutt Vivillon in the stomach.

"Oh, no, Vivillon!" Viola cried out, and then tried to order another infestation attack.

"Thundershock, again!" I broke in, "Tackle it again while it's still in shock, it won't be able to take many more attacks," I concluded, and I saw Viola bite her lip as Pikachu electrocuted Vivillon, then whipped around to slap it in the face with him tail. After the assault, Vivillon couldn't stay in the air. It fell delicately onto the ground, and Viola snapped a picture of Pikachu sadly.

"My, my," She sighed, "A lovely picture, but not for me!" She commented, but returned her pokemon anyway. "My next one will really bug you!" She laughed at her own pun, and called out her next pokemon.

A Nincada had been called out, and clapped it's front claws together as Viola ordered an attack.

"Still have some energy to fight?" I asked Pikachu, who "pika'd" in response. "Alright, use a Thundershock," I ordered, but didn't notice Viola's sly smile.

"Stay where you are," Viola ordered. I thought it was odd until Pikachu attacked, and it did nothing to the bug and _ground_ type pokemon. I groaned, " _I should have known that!"_ I scolded myself, but Pikachu was more confused than I was angry.

"It's a dual bug/ground type pokemon, your electric attacks won't work on Nincada." I explained, and Pikachu huffed and sparked. "Just use tackle, and watch out for its front claws!" I finished, but I still worried for my pokemon. " _Thundershock is his best attack,"_ I thought to myself as I tried to think of a strategy.

Pikachu ran to tackle Nincada, but Viola quickly intervened, "Sand Attack," She commanded, and Nincada shot a spray of sand in Pikachu's eyes before he could avoid the attack. "Now, Leech Life!" Viola cheered, and began snapping more pictures. Nincada scuttled to Pikachu, who was trying to rub the sand from his eyes, and sank it's right front claw into Pikachu's arm. Pikachu whined and tried to pry himself from Nincada, but his opponent had a firm grip on him, and soon he fell over in fatigue.

"You did great, Pikachu," I comforted him as I recalled him. Viola grinned and snapped a few pictures of her pokemon and I as I held Fennekin's pokeball. I was still hesitant to use her, but I hoped she learned her lesson. " _I won't know until I try…"_ I thought, and threw her pokeball to send her out. Fennekin stretched, then turned to look back at me. "Do your best, but don't take this match too far," I warned her, but she happily yipped and response and got into a pouncing position, wagging her tail as she waited for a command. "Ember," I ordered, but what she did instead surprised me.

She shot a small spray of ember in front of her, and ran directly into it. Her entire body was engulfed in flames, and she ran head on to Nincada, who tried to back away as Viola pleaded for him to avoid it. Fennekin was faster than Nincada, and she crashed into the small pokemon, sending it flying into the air in front of Viola.

"What was that?" I asked incredulously, but Fennekin just happily yipped in response.

"Shake it off, Nincada," Viola instructed, but her pokemon was burned and moving more slowly because of it. "Leech Life, get your health back,"

"Watch out for Nincada's attack, that Leech Life knocked out Pikachu!" I warned her, "Use ember, see if you can do that thing you did before," I tried, and she did the exact thing as before, but I noticed she was much faster than before. Nincada was, again, knocked into the air, "Ember, knock it out, Fennekin!" I continued, and Viola protested.

"Harden!" She countered, but it didn't do much good. Nincada's body got a shiny sheen, but after Fennekin shot a blast of embers at it, Nincada was close to exhaustion. It sagged on the floor, but I called Fennekin back to me.

"Nincada's done for, it's still burned." I observed, and Viola nodded in approval. Fennekin leaped into my arms and crawled onto my shoulder, but Viola recalled her pokemon.

"That was a good decision," She praised, "I was worried about your battling methods when I saw your last battle, but I see you know when to back off." She pocketed her pokeball, and pulled out a shiny badge instead.

"You and your pokemon have shown me a great battle," She chirped as she stuck her palm out to hand me the Bug Badge. It was a small green and bronze beetle, and I gripped it tightly in excitement.

"Thanks, it feels great to win my first Gym Badge!" I admitted, and she smiled and snapped one more picture.

"I remember my first Gym Battle," She said fondly, "Lost the first two times, but I got the hang of battling eventually!" She confessed. "That was a great battle, but let's give your friend a chance too." She decided, and motioned behind her. "Exit's that way, the observation deck is to the left. You'll be at the deck faster than a flash!" She explained, and I thanked her after.

I couldn't stop grinning the entire way up the stairs, and my smile only got bigger as Calem came around the corner from the observation deck. I gave him an Ursaring hug, which he happily accepted as he congratulated me. I enjoyed the hug until I started to feel embarrassed about hugging him, and pulled away to see him blushing.

"Great battle, Lil' F," He teased me, and I grinned and pushed him lightly.

"Don't call me that!" I retorted, but he didn't take me too seriously. "Viola's ready for you, good luck," I offered.

Calem grinned and held up two pokeballs, "I'm prepared, I caught a new pokemon while we were training just for the Santalune Gym." He bragged. He waved goodbye and walked past me to the front room, and I just stood there trying to remember if I knew what pokemon he caught.

Not coming to any conclusion, I shrugged and turned to walk up the stairs to the observation deck. It was a short walk, and once I got to the deck, Fennekin and I picked a front row seat in the middle just in time to see Calem swing down on the rope and onto the web. " _Showoff,"_ I thought as I watched him scoot across the web with an cocky grin on his face. He went a different way than I did the first time, and with an aerial view of the web, I realized I went a long way around the web. Fennekin crawled into my lap and yawned, and I scratched her head and fluffed her tail as I watched Calem's first Gym Trainer battle. His opponent was a young girl with a Butterfree, and his Froakie quickly waterlogged it's wings with attacks and tackled it into fainting.

" _Calem's a good trainer…"_ I thought absentmindedly as I watched him balance on the webs, and then sprint up the stairs to Viola. She was there, eagerly waiting for him, but I couldn't hear their conversation. But I could see the battle, and watched as she brought out her Vivillon again, and Calem used his Froakie. " _What pokemon did I battle while we were training?"_ I wondered, curious to see his new pokemon. I didn't have to wait long, Vivillon went down quickly and she sent out a new pokemon, a Illumise instead. Calem returned his Froakie, and sent out a small brown and tan lion cub pokemon, with a little tuft of fire on it's forehead. I admired how cute it was, but it didn't last long in battle. It hit Illumise with an Ember attack a few times, but was knocked out after a while. Calem returned his new pokemon and sent Froakie back out, who's agility proved too much for Viola's Illumise. Viola returned her pokemon with a shrug, but everyone's reaction was the same for what happened next.

Froakie began to glow, and grew taller and his frubble spread out as the light began to dim. A larger frog stood in Froakie's place, but once Froakie got used to his new form, he hopped over to Calem who was beaming with pride. I lifted up my sleeping Fennekin gently and cradled her in my arms as I rushed down the stairs, excited to congratulate Calem and see Froakie's new form close up. I stood in the front room shuffling my feet, but it didn't take long for Calem and his new pokemon to greet me.

"Froakie evolved into Frogadier!" Calem cheered, and Frogadier cheered along with him, sticking a sticky foot to Calem's face. Calem pulled it off and wiped his face clean, but I had bent over to look at Frogadier face to face.

"Congratulations," I said to him, and Frogadier grinned and slapped his chest in response. I straightened up, "You too, Calem." I added. "What pokemon was that you used?" I asked, remembering the fuzzy brown cub.

"Litleo," Calem responded, and then returned his newly evolved pokemon. "I caught it earlier, but didn't train it well enough for Viola." He confessed, but brightened up, "But hey, we both won our first Gym Battle!" He exclaimed. We both started walking out of the Gym,

"You did great," I confessed, but was interrupted by the man who was at the entrance when we got here.

"Whoa-ho-ho! You two champs in the making, I see you won your badges!" He laughed and clapped us both on the shoulder, but grimaced as we both were shoved. "Heh, heh, sorry kiddos… Guess I don't know my own strength!" Calem and I both reassured him we were okay, and the eccentric man chuckled and congratulated us the entire way to the door. Calem pushed the door open for me, and held it for my sleeping pokemon and I.

"Why thank you!" I giggled as we walked through the town. It was late in the afternoon, and I asked Calem what we should do next.

"Pokemon Center first, definitely. Both Pikachu and Litleo are exhausted, and we can't travel with only two pokemon between us. But hey, Lumiose City is close, just a short walk. We could make it there by tonight," He suggested, and I eagerly agreed. " _I haven't seen Dad in forever,"_ I thought, and Calem must have seen the expression on my face. He stopped us in front of the Pokemon Center, and touched my shoulder lightly.

"We can stay in Lumiose City as long as you want," He offered, "I know you must miss your Dad." I nodded, but just thinking about seeing him brightened my mood.

"Yeah, but I know he hasn't forgotten about me," I explained quietly, "I mean, he got me Fennekin, right?" I mused, looking down at the sleeping pokemon in my arms.

"Of course he hasn't," He reassured me, "You're his daughter after all." He smiled and ran his hand down my arm, then shoved his hand in the pocket of his jacket, "Enough of this mushy stuff, let's get going in the Pokemon Center so we don't have to walk in the dark." He decided, and turned sharply into the Pokemon Center. I followed him in, returning Fennekin to her pokeball and getting in line with Calem to get our pokemon healed.


	7. Chapter 7

Healing our pokemon didn't take long, and after a quick bite to eat, Calem and I strolled through Santalune City and onto Parterre Way. Fields of flowers and rows of hedges lined the route, and as we walked I admired the beauty of Kalos. The cities, the routes, and the buildings were all beautiful, and as much as I missed Johto, I had to admit Kalos was growing on me.

"You like flowers?" Calem asked, noticing the way I trailed my fingers through the flower fields.

"Yeah," I said dreamily, turning the petals of a Daffodil between my fingers. "We had a small garden in Johto, but there wasn't much space in our backyard." I reminisced about the Peonies and Lilies in my backyard of Johto, with Oran berry bushes lining the back of the house.

"Well, here," Calem interrupted my thoughts, and handed me a small blue flower. He had a shy smile spread out across his face, and as I took it he opened his mouth to speak, but I cried out in shock as the flower floated up to my face. Both Calem and I gasped and drew back, but I could see a tiny white pokemon with a yellow flower crown staring up at me sweetly.

"It moved!" I cried out, grabbing a pokeball from my bag.

"It's a pokemon, Flabebe!" He replied.

"What did you just call me?" I looked past the moving flower and glared, but Calem sputtered in response.

"No, the pokemon! It's name is Flabebe, I wasn't calling you-" He protested. Flabebe began twirling and floating in between us, and Calem elaborated, "It's one of the newly discovered Fairy Type pokemon."

"Well if it's a pokemon, I'm gonna catch it!" I decided, and I jumped back and spun on my heel to throw a pokeball. Fennekin popped out, and lifted a paw and pointed her nose, completely focused on the pokemon who was spinning around Calem. She barked to try to grab my attention, but I was focused on the new pokemon.

"Fennekin, Ember, then use a Flame Charge if you can jump that high!" I commanded as I dug through my bag to find a pokeball. I clicked it to enlarge it as Fennekin sprayed Embers at Flabebe, and then Calem sprinted away to avoid getting burned and the blast of pink wind that came with Flabebe waving the flower it was resting on. Fennekin couldn't avoid it, but she was determined to win and pushed herself off the ground to hit Flabebe in the air with a flaming tackle.

"Alright, enough, back up!" I directed her, and threw the ball to Flabebe. It sucked it in, and began shaking as it fell onto the ground. I cheered, but was blinded in the evening light as Fennekin began to glow. She grew taller, and stood upright. Her ears and tail grew, and large tufts grew out, which she fluffed as she stopped glowing.

For a moment, I forgot about my newly caught pokemon, and rushed to my starter. "Fennekin!" I gasped, drawing her into a hug, "You evolved!"

"Braixen!" She chirped. Her voice was deeper, and I marveled at how soft her fur was and how she held herself. She pulled herself away and walked past me, and began digging in a row of hedges. She finally pulled out a good sized stick, and began turning it over and waving it, before she aimed it at Calem and shot a Psybeam in his direction.

"Woah, she's scary!" Calem whined, running to hide behind me as Braixen tried out her new move again. She twirled the stick and stuck it in her tail, then strode over to my pokeball laying on the ground and picked it up. She tossed it to me lightly, and I caught it in one hand before jamming it in my bag.

"Two new pokemon!" I beamed, admiring Braixen.

Calem came out from behind me and pouted, "You're pokemon's psychotic," He grumbled. Braixen glared, and moved to grab the stick in her tail, but after I gave her a sideways look, she began grumbling and crossed her arms.

"You two get along or we'll never get to Lumiose!" I pleaded, and both turned their heads away. "Braixen, behave or I'll put you in your pokeball," I warned her, and she began yowling in protest.

"We're almost to Lumiose anyway…" Calem observed, "The gates over there," He pointed to a large stone gateway just past a fountain in the middle of the route, "We'll be there in ten minutes at the most."

I began to get nervous, " _I haven't been to a big city like Lumiose before…"_ Hey, Calem?" I asked carefully, "Do you know where Dad's lab is?"

Calem grinned, and linked his arm through mine, "This way, m'lady," He joked, and led me down the route. "Just stick with me, Sycamore, I'll get you where you need to go."

Braixen snorted and strolled behind us.

 **Break**

The first thing you saw when you walked in to Lumiose City's gates was the huge tower in the center of the city, and you heard the overwhelming bustle of the city. I unconsciously shrunk back, the excitement and noise was almost too much. Braixen patted my shoulder lightly from behind me, and Calem reassured me as we walked down South Boulevard. All I could do was gaze in wonder at the city. Fluffy white pokemon with strange haircuts trotted next to women in designer clothes, and several cafes were spread out in between expensive looking shops. Calem pointed to a one story PokeCenter, and informed me my Dad's lab was across the street from it.

"Can we go to the lab?" I asked nervously, I hadn't seen my Dad in forever, but I didn't want to drag Calem along with me.

"Sure, I'd like to meet the world famous Professor Sycamore," He responded, pulling me in the direction of the lab. There were several stone steps leading to the lab, but I began dragging my feet as the doors slid open.

"What if he's not here?" I quietly asked, but Calem pulled me through anyway.

"Then we'll come back tomorrow," He replied.

A middle aged woman with blonde hair was sitting at the desk, and looked up, "Welcome to the Sycamore Pokemon Laboratory! Can I - Oh!" She began, but stopped as she got a good look at Calem and I. "You're Augustine's daughter, Ellory, right?" She asked with a smile.

"Uh, yeah I'm his daughter," I said, and elbowed Calem in the ribs to quiet his snickering. "Is he here, can we see him?" I asked, changing the subject instead of correcting her.

"Sure, I'll send a memo right up," She began, and scooted over in her chair to face her desktop computer. "Okay, his daughter… and a boyfriend?" She asked with a grin. Calem dropped my arm like fire, and we both denied it until she stopped laughing. "Oh, I was just teasing! You two can just go up that elevator to the third floor, he'll be there waiting for you!" She navigated us, and pointed behind her to show us the elevator.

After thanking her, we got into the elevator, that was _much_ tighter than it looked. With Braixen, Calem, and I, there wasn't much room. "Can't you put that crazy pokemon up," Calem asked, grimacing as Braixen glared at him.

"Nope, I wanna show Dad!" I protested, and Braixen gave a toothy grin to gloat. Calem grumbled about Braixen until the elevator buzzed and the doors opened, revealing a royal blue and gold room. " _Dad definitely designed this,"_ I thought as we stepped out into the room. My shoes had barely touched the maroon carpet when I was pulled into a big hug.

"Felicity! I can't believe you've already made it to Lumiose!" He gushed, pulling away to hold me at an arm's length and look at me warmly. "And you!" He turned to Calem, "Many thanks to you! You brought Felicity here, didn't you? Your parents told me to trust you would be a great trainer, and I see they were right!" He mused for a minute, and stroked his chin, "You do have a certain je ne sais quoi!"

"What's that?" Calem asked nervously, looking back and forth between Dad and I.

"A quality, one I cannot put my finger on," He explained.

"It's called having a massive ego and acting like a know it all." I interjected, and Calem nudged me, but yelped sharply as Braixen cuffed him on the side of the head.

"You two are close?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning. We both began stammering again, but he focused his attention to Braixen instead. "Oh! Who's pokemon is this? She's very lovely," He praised, stroking her ears. Braixen accepted the affection warmly, before pointing to me and barking.

"She's mine," I elaborated, and Dad beamed down at me proudly.

"You are a fine trainer, Felicity. I will admit, I was expecting Ellory to show up, not you." He said, deep in thought.

"Your receptionist called me Ellory and I just didn't correct her." I sighed, causing Calem to laugh again.

"Well, I have been bragging about my wonderful daughters, but I guess I never elaborated which was which." He realized, and laughed loudly, "Ah, well I guess everyone who I've talked too will call you Ellory!" He continued, wiping the tears from his eyes, "I have a present for you two! I was going to give them to you later in your journey, but I'll deliver them to everyone else later."

I perked up, "What is it?" I asked. Calem seemed interested too, and we both eagerly followed Dad through the room as he evaded our questions. He finally stopped in front of his desk, and picked up a small box, a pokeball, and a velvet pouch. Braixen stood next to me and began sniffing the air, then began pawing at me. "What's wrong?" I asked her, but she ignored me. She trotted to behind Dad's desk, still sniffing, and stopped in front of a drawer and began barking.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I told you she's crazy," Calem put in, and then gave an exasperated sigh when she managed to pry open the drawer with a claw, and pulled out a half eaten bag of chips.

"She found my stash of snacks!" Dad gasped, but seemed more humored than mad at my pokemon, who shoved her muzzle into the bag and began munching on the chips. She chirped happily, and now that my pokemon was satisfied Dad turned back to us to explain the items in his hand.

"I'm going to give you two another pokemon!" He exclaimed happily.

Calem grinned, "What kind of pokemon, Professor?"

"You get to choose between the Kanto starter pokemon, Calem." He responded, handing him the box. "You, Felicity get this." He handed me the pokeball.

"Why don't I get to chose a Kanto pokemon?" I asked, and I had to admit I was a bit disappointed. Calem eventually picked one up, and turned the pokeball over in his hand.

"You get a special pokemon, this one," Dad said, "It's an Audino," He explained, "A Mega Evolution was just discovered for it, and Calem, that Bulbasaur you chose has a Mega Evolution too."

"Where do we get the Mega Evolution stones?" Calem asked, clipping his new pokemon to his belt.

"I have the stones for them, but you'll have to get the Key Stones yourself." He said, and dumped the contents out of the pouch into his empty hand. He poked around in his hand until he chose two stones. He handed me a pink and white stone the size of a marble, and an aqua and green stone to Calem.

"Thanks, Professor," Calem said, rolling the stone in his hand.

"It's a pleasure to entrust you with that stone and pokemon. I know you will help me further my research." He replied. He stuffed the pouch in his lab pocket, "You can find items for your pokemon's keystone in a shop along South Boulevard." He advised us, then turned to me with a furrowed brow, "Do you need money, Felicity? I know you and your sister love to shop."

I groaned, " _No_ Dad! I have plenty of money from my battles!" Braixen yipped to second my statement as she licked chip crumbs from her jowls.

Dad laughed and patted me on the back, "Just making sure! I have to look after my little girl, after all, _tu es ma vie et mon amour!"_

" _Dad!'_ I whined, the embarrassment creeping color into my face.

"Hey, Lil' F, let's go check out that shop Professor Sycamore mentioned," Calem said, "I could use some more pokemon gear."

"I'll come back before we leave Lumiose City, okay Dad?" I asked, turning to my Dad as he walked with us to the door.

"My Dear, don't worry too much on it. And besides, the Lumiose City gym is _hors service!"_

"What?" Calem and I both asked in shock.

Dad gave us a confused look, "You did not know?"

"What's wrong with the Gym?" I asked him. Braixen's ears drooped at the thought of not battling, she whined sadly and slouched.

"We are having power issues in the city, the whole North Boulevard is blocked off, along with the Gym." He explained with a sigh.

"It does make sense," Calem pondered, "Clemont uses electric pokemon, he would have to use an enormous amount of electricity for his Gym."

"Yes, he was working on a new invention, and we believe he blew out a good amount of power testing it. But, oh well, _la vie continue!_ Let me walk you out, the stairs are this way." He said, pointing behind the elevator. A hidden set of stairs with a blue carpet running down them was behind the elevator, and spiraled around the elevator shaft to the bottom floor. Dad walked ahead of us, tapping his hand on the railing and humming as he walked down the stairs. Calem walked a few steps ahead of me, then turned to hold a hand out.

"Don't trip," He joked as I took his hand. He grinned as I kicked him lightly, but his mood turned sour as Braixen pulled the stick out of her tail and whacked him on the back of the head. "Your pokemon's a menace." He grumbled, but stopped short near the end of the staircase. Dad's hand was splayed out behind him, blocking our way to the door.

"What's going on?" I asked Calem, but he shook his head and motioned for me to be quiet as he peeked around the corner. I could just barely make out a conversation, and Dad seemed angry for some reason.

"So I will be able to meet them soon, then?" I heard a faint deep voice ask.

"Why would you need to meet my children and my research assistants?" Dad asked, his voice wary and calm.

"Your daughters must be pokemon experts, with your being their father and all," The voice said, the sweetness in his voice clearly fake, "And your assistants, they must have great potential."

"That is why they have been chosen." Dad retorted, "But they are not here. I think it is best if you leave, Lysandre." He stated, but I heard no footsteps indicating he was gone.

"But Augustine, I am trying to learn as much as I can about pokemon, I aspire to make Kalos a better place, give it a brighter future."

"My children have nothing to do with that." He replied, but his voice had an edge.

"Ah, but they do, more than you may be aware of. I _will_ see to it that I find them." The man said, his voice still pleasant and sweet but cold at the same time.

"What?" I whispered, and my fear was clear enough to Calem, who pulled me into a tight hug despite my pokemon's warning growl. Braixen let it slide, however, and I hugged him tightly back as I continued to listen to the conversation.

" _Who does this guy think he is?"_ I thought to myself.

"They are not here." Dad repeated, "If you will not leave willingly, I will see to it that you are removed." His voice was stern, he had never talked to anyone in my family like that. " _I guess Dad's not as much of a pushover as I thought."_ I thought to myself.

"I will be back." The man said finally, "Knowledge is power, after all. I suggest you prepare those children for the events that will surely unfold." Heavy footsteps clattered on the floor, but after a minute they were gone, Calem and I separated and Dad let us through the doorway.

"I am sorry," Dad said, noting both of our expressions. "That was Lysandre Patron, an elite and renowned pokemon trainer in Kalos."

"What does he want with us?" I asked frantically. Calem grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"I do not know, _mon cher,_ but I am doing everything I can to keep him away from you children. That is the real reason I gave you Audino and Bulbasaur and their Mega Evolution stones, They were specially trained," Dad confessed, running his hands through his dark hair.

"Thanks for the extra help Professor," Calem graciously said.

"I have to look after my assistant's and my little girl," He replied with a smile. "But here, take this." He pulled a black little disk out of his lab pocket and handed it to me. "This is a Holo Caster, but I only have one so you will have to share." He explained.

"What is it, Professor Sycamore?" Calem asked, eyeing the device. "You should keep it, Felicity." He decided, "It's probably more safe with you." I nodded and stuck it in my skirt pocket along with my new pokemon and Mega Stone.

"It's alike a cell phone, it has video chat and text features. It's the best way for me to contact you two," He said, but paused. "Will you two continue to travel with each other?"

Calem and I looked at each other nervously, "We haven't really talked about that," I said finally.

Calem shuffled his feet and looked away, "I'd like to," He quietly confessed. I felt my face flush, and was almost dizzy with excitement as I held Calem's hand tighter.

" _Jeune amour, comment cela me passionne!"_ Dad exclaimed happily, but then he grew serious. "You two will have to be careful, Lysandre is no fool, and I do not know what he is planning."

"What are we supposed to do?" I asked him, but he shook his head.

"I do not know dearest, but I will reserve you a room in Hotel Divin for the night and call you on the Holo Caster I gave you once it's been booked. The only advice I can give is to stay together, and try not to travel at night. I would keep at least one pokemon out with you at all times too," He added, then patted Braixen on the head. She cooed as he scratched her, "Keep her safe, Braixen, I am counting on you and Frogadier."

"How come she hates me so much?" Calem asked with a sigh, looking at Braixen with a glare.

"Isn't it obvious?" Dad asked. "Calem, you are her rival for Felicity's affection. She sees you as an obstacle to overcome." Braixen finished his statement by sneezing in Calem's face, proving his point.

Calem grumbled and wiped his face off with his jacket sleeve, "Great."

"I thought you liked competition," I joked. He ignored me, and just continued to mumble about how his jacket was wet.

"Oh don't worry, we're going shopping." I commented, "That track suit _has_ to go."

Braixen sneered at him ask he argued, "What's wrong with my clothes?" He asked with a whine.

"Don't worry, she doesn't like my sense of style either," Dad broke in, unbuttoning his lab coat to reveal a blue and purple paisley button down shirt.

"You _both_ need new clothes!" I exclaimed, grimacing at dad's shirt. "Mom let you buy that?" I asked him.

Dad laughed, "Of course not, she said it was hideous! But I liked it so much I went back to the store at bought it once she went back to Vaniville Town." He smoothed his shirt out then buttoned his coat back up, "I think it's quite nice."

I put a hand on my hip and looked to Calem, "He's too far gone, but you still have a chance."

"I don't want new clothes!" Calem huffed, then crossed his arms.

After he finished his sentence, Braixen lit his pants on fire.


	8. Chapter 8

After putting Calem's pants out, we went to a small shop on South Boulevard to get some new clothes. Dad shoved a wad of cash in my bag as we left, and after I saw the prices, I was thankful he did.

"One hundred and twenty dollars for this?" Calem asked incredulously as he looked at the price tag of a navy parka.

"It's good quality, it'll last!" I insisted as I looked over the women's clothes.

"Fine, fine, what else do I need?" He grumbled, tossing the coat over his shoulder. I gave up on looking for myself and went to help Calem, who was

looking at pants. "Just find the cheapest thing," He demanded, scoffing at the prices of what he picked up.

"What about these?" I asked, holding up a plain pair of jeans. Calem looked them over and looked at the price tag, but sighed at the price.

"Fifty dollars?" He protested, but I shoved them towards him anyway.

"You can pick your own shirt," I decided, going back to the women's section.

"You're so generous…" He grumbled as I walked away.

There were lots of options, but even with the money dad gave me it still seemed pricy. I finally decided on a black coat that ended mid thigh, and had a hood that fit over my head snugly. I tucked it under my arm and went to go pay just as Calem was done, and had ducked into a dressing room to change out of his charred pants. He was finished before I was done paying, but I couldn't help admiring him as he walked over to me.

With just a new outfit, Calem looked totally different. " _He looks older, more… mature,"_ I thought as I took the bag from the cashier. He had chosen to not buy a new shirt, but his plain black tshirt didn't look bad with the rest of his new clothes.

"What are you staring at?" He asked, jamming his hands in his coat pocket.

"Uh, nothing!" I exclaimed as I headed to the door, dragging him with me. "I bought a coat," I quickly changed the subject, "Let's go to the Mega Evolution shop, okay?" I asked, and he decided to let it go and lead the way to the shop.

 **Break**

Boutique Evolution was in one of the back alleys of South Boulevard, the only indication it was even a store was a hanging sign of a Fire Stone, but the inside was decorated with stones of all kinds. One wall was lined with Evolution Stones, one had a case with Mega Evolution Stones, and the rest of the store had battle items and various items for pokemon to wear.

Calem and I browsed the pokemon items, but I wasn't finding anything I particularly liked. "Why don't you send out Audino and let it choose?" Calem suggested, and picked up a leather woven collar with a place to embed a Meg Stone.

"That's a pretty good idea actually, I haven't even seen it." I praised, then took out Audino's pokeball from my pocket. After it was called out, Audino looked up at me sweetly and cooed. I bent down, "Hey, I'm Felicity." I said, and patted it on the head between the ears.

"Audino!" It chirped, and reached up to pat me on the cheek. "Dino, di!" I stood back up, but Audino frowned and reached up towards me.

"You want me to hold you?" I asked, and it nodded with a pout. I picked it up and cradled my pokemon in my arms as I turned back to the equipment, "Pick one of the Mega Stone things for you to wear, I want you to pick something you like after all." I explained, but it didn't take long for Audino to choose. It straightened out one of it's ear swirls to pick up a delicate looking silver chain, that had a small ring hanging from it to put the Mega Stone in.

"Dino!" It chirped, handing it to me.

"That wasn't hard," I told Calem, who had chosen the collar he had earlier.

"So I guess it's a girl?" He asked, looking at my pokemon.

"Don't make assumptions," I corrected him, but Audino chirped to agree with him. "You're a girl?" I asked, just to make sure. She cooed again, and patted my face again gently.

"She seems to like you," Calem pointed out, and Audino kept cooing until she got too heavy and I put her on the ground.

"You can walk with us, but I can't carry you everywhere," I said, but Audino was content with holding my hand and walking next to me to the front counter to pay for her Mega Stone necklace.

As I placed my item on the counter, the man ringing me up smiled, "WIll that be all? We have a half off sale on Evolution Stones, just so you know."

"They have a Thunder Stone," Calem informed me, and I thought for a minute before deciding to get one while I was here.

"Can you go get me one?" I asked him, and he groaned but regardless went to go get one for me. I smiled as he handed it to me, and the cashier giggled as he told me my total.

"That'll be two hundred dollars, ma'am." He said, then added, "I know how you feel man, my girlfriend's bosses me around too." I was expecting Calem to deny it like he always did, but to my surprise, he just smiled and put his arm around me as I paid for my stuff. After I put the Thunder Stone in

my pocket, I let go of Audino's paw to fasten the necklace around her neck. I stuck the Audinite in the clasp, and it hung around her neck snugly. She cooed and pawed at the necklace, then pulled on Calem's coat to show him her new piece of jewelry.

"It looks nice," He commented, pleasing my new pokemon. She made a noise that I assumed was a giggle and then grabbed my hand again, and as we finished in Boutique Evolution and left, Calem took my other hand.

"Well what now?" He asked as we walked down South Boulevard. It was dark, but streetlights were spread out throughout the city so we had no trouble walking through Lumiose.

"I don't know, but Dad said we were staying somewhere named Hotel Divin." I looked around, but all I saw were cafe's and shops.

"He said he would call us when he made the reservations," Calem said, "But he hasn't called you on the Holo caster, has he?"

I pulled the Holo Caster out and turned it on, but it didn't have a missed call notification. "I'll call him, we really shouldn't be out at night, even if we're in the city." I shuttered as I remembered Lysandre's threats, but I used the touchscreen to click on Dad's picture and waited as it rang. "He probably forgot."

We stopped on the sidewalk as it rang, and it didn't take long for an image of Dad to pop out in front of us. He had on his glasses, and from the background I could see he was sitting at his desk. "Oh, _Bonjour Felicity , comment êtes-vous mon cher?"_ He pushed his glasses further up his nose and smiled warmly. "And Calem! I see Felicity convinced you to buy new clothes," He noticed.

"I didn't have a choice, her psycho pokemon singed my pants." He groaned, but he moved the conversation along, "Did you make the reservations for Hotel Divin?" He asked, and Dad nodded, then came to a realization.

"I didn't call you! I'm sorry, my children, but I got swept up in my work. Look at this pokemon!" He gushed, then the screen turned to a gray kitten pokemon with a blank stare. "An intern just brought this Espurr to me, isn't it adorable!"

"Kinda creepy…" I disagreed. Calem nodded, but Dad turned the Holo caster back to himself.

"You'll hurt it's feelings!" He cried out. "Regardless," He went on, "Hotel Divin is at the end of South Boulevard, near the exit gate to Route 5 and Camphrier Town. I have the reservations under Sycamore, but alas," He clasped his hand to his forehead, "There was only one room available! You will have to share," He explained.

"Calem can sleep on the floor," I teased, and Dad chucked a bit before moving closer to the Holo Caster. "I trust you will not do anything a gentlemen wouldn't do, Calem." Dad said, "I know Braixen is not fond of you, and I'm sure she would have no problem burning your _morceaux messieurs!"_ He threatened, and Calem shuttered at the thought and promised he wouldn't do anything.

"Well, I must go, I have lots of work to do tonight. If you get hungry you can just call in room service, and I will pay the tab for your hotel stay." Dad finished. We thanked him before he hung up, and we hurried to get to Hotel Divin before it got too late.

 **Break**

Decorated with red and gold, Hotel Divin was without a doubt the most elegant place I'd ever spent the night. After checking in, we went to our room and released all of our pokemon to let them stretch. Calem and I lounged on the couch, and browsed through the Divin Menu to find something to eat. It was filled with a variety of food, but I finally just decided to get a brownie sundae with cherry pie instead of actual dinner. After Calem decided what he wanted, he went back to the lobby to put our order in because neither of us could figure out how to use the phone provided in the room.

While he was gone, I didn't have anything to do so I just watched our pokemon play. Audino was sitting on the floor beside me, cooing and playing with her necklace. Braixen was sprawled out on the bed, and she was snoring softly. Pikachu, Litleo, and Frogadier were playing on the floor, Pikachu was darting through the room, while Litleo chased him and Frogadier tried to catch him with his tongue. Bulbasaur was sitting on a gold ottoman, and Flabebe was floating around his head. Bulbasaur didn't seem to mind, and twirled around to follow her movements.

"Why don't you go play with everyone else?" I asked Audino, but she shook her head and crawled into my lap instead.

"Audino," She said, snuggling into my arm.

"Are you shy?" I asked her, stroking down her back. She cooed sadly, and just buried her head further. "It's okay, they're all nice." I said, but she still didn't get up. "Oh well, I guess you can stay here." I decided, and settled into the couch. It was comfortable, and I felt my eyes begin to droop. I closed them with a sigh, but they weren't closed for long until I felt something poke my face.

Pikachu had crawled up to the back couch cushion, and poked me until I opened my eyes. He then pushed my head aside and sat down on my shoulder, resting his head on mine. After Pikachu got comfortable, Bulbasaur jumped from the ottoman and nestled beside me, with Flabebe resting on his head. Not wanting to be left out, Litleo and Frogadier stopped running around the room and found spots on the couch too, with Litleo laying on my feet and Frogadier sitting on the other side of Bulbasaur, then sprawling out to rest his head on my lap. I closed my eyes and snuggled with all the pokemon, but I heard a snort and a yip, and Braixen jumped off the bed and pushed her way into the crowd. She pushed her snout into the crook of my neck, and after she was comfortable I felt Audino move slightly and pat Braixen on the arm.

" _I'm too tired to stay awake,"_ I thought to myself, " _Calem can sleep on the bed, I don't want to move."_

I fell asleep to Braixen's snoring and Audino's cooing in my ear.

 **Break**

When Calem got back, I was fast asleep. He smiled softly as he put the food down on the table, and nudged me gently until I blinked myself awake.

"How long were you gone?" I asked, moving pokemon off me until I could scoot off of the couch. He helped me steady myself, then we sat across the table from each other and Calem began passing out food.

"A half an hour or so," He answered, and handed me a fork. I shoveled a huge bite of brownie and vanilla ice cream into my mouth, "I was going to let you sleep, but I didn't want your, uh, _dinner,_ to melt." He snickered, pointing to my ice cream.

"Ice cream is a perfectly acceptable dinner," I retorted. He pulled out some kind of vegetable and noodle dish, and chose to eat instead of argue. We ate in silence for a while, and even though we weren't talking, there was a calm and comfortable atmosphere. Finishing my sundae was no problem, but halfway through my cherry pie I was full, I slowed my eating before shoving it aside completely.

"Full?" Calem asked, noticing how I pushed away the food, "Or is it not good?"

"No, it's really good, I think I just ate too much." I said, flopping down onto the floor towards him. "I kinda feel sick."

"Maybe you should have chosen real food instead," He teased, putting his hand on my head. He finished his food, but after he picked me up off the floor and carried me to the bed. "Here," He said, gently dropping me on the bed. I groaned and rubbed my stomach, and Calem folded the burgundy bedspread over me, "Here, try to sleep. I'm going to go take a shower." He decided, and gently ran his hand down my arm before going into the bathroom.

I snuggled under the blanket, and poked my head out from under the covers. " _He's really sweet,"_ I thought, smiling and looking towards the bathroom door. " _I can see why Shauna liked him…"_ I thought, but after I thought that, my mood shifted. I felt bad, I felt like I stole Calem from her. " _He didn't like her anyway, did he?"_

I thought about her the entire time Calem was in the shower, and after I heard the bathroom door open, I shot up out of bed.

"Calem?" I asked. He strolled out of the bathroom, but I totally forgot what I was going to ask, because Calem was only wearing pajama bottoms, and had a towel hanging around his neck. He was using the towel to dry his hair off, and he jerked his head up and asked what was wrong.

"Oh, nothing," I quickly said, "Just making sure it was you." I laid back down in the bed and tried to focus my attention on something other than my shirtless friend.

"Who else would it be?" He asked with a chuckle, and sat on the foot of the bed.

"I dunno," I mumbled from under the covers.

He wiggled my foot to get my attention, "Felicity?"

"Mmhm?" I asked sitting up.

"You're not going to make me sleep on the floor, are you?" He asked, remembering our conversation with Dad earlier.

"Yep!" I giggled. He scowled, but got off the bed."Wait," I continued, "Come on, you don't have to sleep on the floor." I pulled him up onto the bed beside me, and scooted over to make more room for him.

"Thanks, I wasn't sure if you were serious or not," He confessed, and pulled the covers up to his chest. I laid back down, but after I got settled Calem flipped over on his side so his back was towards me.

I laid there for a little bit, before I remembered what I was going to ask him earlier. "Uh, Calem?" I asked, poking the back of his head.

"Lil' F?" He asked, turning towards me. I wrapped myself up in blankets, suddenly embarrassed as I turned towards the wall before I continued my sentence.

"You didn't… like Shauna or anything, did you?" I asked shyly.

"I was thinking about her earlier too…" He trailed off, and my heart sank.

"Oh," I said flatly.

Calem realized he said the wrong thing, and moved closer to me. He draped an arm around me and pulled me towards him. "I was _thinking_ about her, but that doesn't mean I _liked_ her." I wiggled around to look at him. He was close to my face, his head was resting on my pillow.

"You didn't like her or anything?" I repeated.

"She's nice, but I think I have feelings for someone else," He confessed, and I felt like I was going to melt into a puddle after I saw the way he was looking at me.

"Who is it?" I asked quietly.

He closed the distance between us, and kissed me gently instead of answering my question.

 **Break**

The next morning, we skipped breakfast and rounded our pokemon up to leave instead. We took Dad's advice, and kept Braixen and Frogadier out of their pokeballs since they were out strongest pokeball. Calem kept his hand in mine throughout Lumiose City, but we decided to call my Dad on the Holo Caster to tell him we were leaving. We stopped before we got to the Route 5 gate, and Calem ignored Braixen's glare and pulled me into a hug. We waited for him to pick up the Holo Caster, but right as Dad picked up Calem lost his nerve and stepped away.

" _Bonjour_ you two!" He said with a grin, and I could see the Espurr's ears twitch under Dad's chin.

"Hey, Professor," Calem replied, but Dad wasn't fooled.

"What happened between you two?" He asked, looking over at Calem's sheepish expression.

"Nothing!" We both exclaimed in unison, but he pressed on.

"Felicity Sycamore, _je ne suis pas fou!_ I saw how he looked at you-" The Holo Caster flew out of my hand, and I felt the ground slip out from under me as a large blue and black mass shot towards me.

Braixen, Frogadier, and Calem all went on defense, Braixen began growling, Frogadier pushed the furry mass off me, and Calem picked up the Holo Caster before he helped me up off the ground. He gently brushed the dirt off me and wrapped his arms around me as I tried to figure out what was going on.

"What the hell?" Calem snapped, but I couldn't see who he was yelling at. Braixen was still growling, and I felt the heat of an ember attack before a yowl and heard her slam something on the ground.

"I'm so sorry!" A teen's voice erupted, and I pulled away from calem to see what was going on. A girl on roller skates was flying through the gate from Route 5, with a Lucario trailing behind her. I looked on the ground to see Braixen on top of another Lucario, her teeth bared and fire licking her teeth. "I was doing some training with my pokemon, and Lucario just dashed off!" She cried out, then called her pokemon that was pinned to the ground back.

"Let up, Braixen," I commanded, and she got up, but pulled the stick out of her tail and began an assault on Lucario with the stick. She barked harshly, and after Lucario managed to get away, she held the stick out in front of her and a ring of fire circled the Lucario, trapping him in a fire spin.

"Frogadier," Calem said, and Frogadier shot out a blast of water to put out the fire spin. After Lucario was free, it yelped and ran to it's trainer, who rolled to stand in front of her two pokemon. She had on a red and white shorts outfit, and a matching helmet with a large blonde ponytail sticking out.

"You have quite the bodyguards," She said with a sheepish smile.

"Good thing I do," I grumbled.

"Sorry…" She trailed off, "What was the problem, Lucario? Did you get drawn to this girl's aura?" She asked, and the pokemon behind her nodded. She turned to me, "See, Lucario can read people's auras, and I guess he likes yours." Lucario nodded again.

"So he tackled her to the ground" Calem snapped back at her.

"It's okay," I said quietly, and put my arm through his.

"My pokemon's always getting worked up, maybe he was just waiting for the right trainer…" She trailed off, then shook her head and rolled closer, "Sorry! I'm Korrina, I run the Shalour city Gym."

"It's nice to meet you," I said politely, but I was kinda over her spheal. Calem was equally as done, but he wasn't as polite about it.

"I can really roll with the punches!" She exclaimed, and punched the air. "But hey, I gotta go! See ya later, make sure to come challenge the gym!" She skated past us down South Boulevard, waving and yelling an apology one more time before she skated out of sight.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Calem asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine but I'm sure Dad's about to have a stroke." I realized with a groan, he had gotten hung up on when Lucario ran into me.

"Oh no…" Calem came to the same realization as I turned the Holo Caster back on and dialed Dad. He picked the phone up on the first ring, and he was _mad._

" _Felicity!"_ He roared, " _Comment osez-vous raccrochez sur moi!_ I am your father, _show some le respect!"_ He yelled into his Holo Caster, but Calem held his hand up to interject.

"With all due respect, sir, she didn't hang up on you. There was a, uh, situation." He mumbled, losing his courage.

" _WHAT?"_ He asked, his glasses flying off his head as he stood up from his desk. "What kind of _incident?"_

"Not like that!" I exclaimed, "The Shalour City Gym Leader's pokemon ran into me. It was a Lucario" I gasped my sentence out, trying to get the story straight.

"He ran into her and knocked the Holo Caster out of her hand," Calem interrupted, "Look!" He held up my hand, I didn't even realize it was scraped, but the skin was scuffed and I was bleeding slightly.

Dad calmed down immediately, seeming to believe us. "Well, I suppose I can let it slide…" He said, but he crossed his arms, "Take good care of her, Calem. My threat still holds." He said, giving him a glare. But he was interrupted, Espurr began mewling and floating around his head.

"My pokemon needs me, I must go. But get that hand cleaned up, okay _mon cher."_ He ended the call with a smile, and then hung up after Calem and I said goodbye.

"Uhg, that could have gone so much worse," I stammered, resting my head on Calem's shoulder.

"At least he believed us," He added, gently taking my injured hand. "We do need to get this cleaned up," He said looking it over.

"It's fine," I said, jamming it into my coat pocket. "We don't have all day, let's get to Camphrier Town soon, Dad said we shouldn't travel at night."

"Fine, but at least clean it well tonight." He pleaded, and I agreed just to get us moving again.

"Okay," I said, kissing him on the cheek to distract him, "Let's just get going."

"Mmhm," He mumbled, looking down at me with a dopey grin.


	9. Chapter 9

Versant Road was short, and Calem and I got to Camphrier Town quickly, even though we were strolling at best. Our pokemon played with each other in the flowers as we walked down the paths hand in hand, and we both giggled as Braixen put a lilac wreath around Frogadier's neck before she wrapped a sprig of the flower around her stick. Our pokemon caught up to us as we entered the quaint Camphrier Town.

"Let's go to the PokeCenter," Calem pressed, tugging on my scraped hand.

"It's fine!" I whined, but he dragged me anyway. "It'll heal on it's own!" I tried, but he wasn't convinced.

"Don't care," He retorted, gently pulling me through the PokeCenter doors. From the counter ahead, Nurse Joy smiled at us, but her brow furrowed as she noticed the hand Calem had a firm grasp on.

She pulled a small medical box out from under the desk and handed it to Calem before he could stop, "Here, you can just bring it back once you two are done. Do your pokemon need healing?" She asked, but Braixen and Frogadier shook their heads to ensure they were fine. Calem dragged me over to one of the two tables to the right with several stools, and pushed me onto one of the seats. Without sitting, he flipped open the box and dug around until he took out a spray bottle, a roll of bandages, and a small tub of gel.

"Will you calm down?" I asked, but Calem kept a stern look as he sprayed the antiseptic on my hand. It stung slightly, but I let him continue in silence in fear of what he would do if I didn't. He stuck a finger in the gel and smeared it over my hand, wiped it on his shirt to clean his hand, then began unrolling the bandages. He ignored my question and worried gaze as he bandaged my hand up, but after he returned everything into the medical box he had to meet my gaze.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, and his brown eyes were cloudy as he finally answered.

"We had two pokemon out and between the three of us we _still_ couldn't protect you!" He responded, the worry in his face evident. "You heard what your dad said, we need to be careful. That Lysandre guy is dangerous, and I don't know how safe we'll be traveling in Kalos." He ran his hand through his hair, "I couldn't keep you safe." He quietly confessed, and after his revelation I felt bad for my outburst.

I hugged him tightly, and buried my face in his chest, "I didn't think of it that way." He held me tightly, "I'm sorry. But we'll be okay, alright? Don't worry."

I did my best to calm him down, and after a minute I felt him sigh and relax. We stood there until Braixen poked her wet nose in between us, and as we parted she wedged herself in between us. Calem backed up slightly, but Braixen didn't attack him.

She put her hands on her hips and stared up at him before levitating her stick into her hand, and swinging it in front of her. A shimmery screen appeared in between them making my view of Calem hazy.

"Is that Protect?" I asked, and she barked in response. The screen disintegrated and Braixen moved behind me, "See, she's telling you not to worry." I informed Calem. Despite his quarrels with my pokemon, he did seem grateful of her new move, and nodded shortly in appreciation before picking the medical box and pacing back to the front desk. Our pokemon and I followed him, but by the time we got to the desk Nurse Joy had already put the box away and had pushed a flyer towards Calem.

"Here, you two should go to this." She said, pointing. "There's a circus show tonight in Parfum Palace, you two look like you could use a break." She sympathetically advised. I looked over the paper, and I had to admit it seemed interesting. A woman with blue hair was on a tightrope with a Zorua, and another woman with fiery red hair was breathing fire down below with a Vulpix and Pyroar beside her.

"Parfum Palace isn't that far away," Calem pondered, "Do you want to go?" He looked towards me.

"It might be fun." I replied, "And if carnival food is here is anything like it is in Johto, then I'd go just for the food!" I giggled.

"You two will have a good time, and don't worry," Joy smiled, "I'm sure everything will be fine."

 **Break**

We decided to head straight to Parfum Palace from the PokeCenter, and the mood was lightened at the promise of food. Palais Lane was a shady path, trees and bushes lined the road and separated it from the tall grass surrounding the route. The Route was abnormally empty, and we both just assumed it was because everyone was at Parfum Palace.

"Hey, wait here." Calem said suddenly. I paused and looked around, but with the twitching grass it didn't take me long to see what Calem saw. "I'm going to go catch it," Calem explained as he dug in his bag for a pokeball, "Come on, Frogadier." They both ran off into the grass, but Braixen pulled me off in a direction of our own.

"What is it?" I asked, but she yipped and pointed towards a bush. I followed her, but lurched back in shock at what I found. A several foot long sword was hidden in the bushes, it laid on the ground and a blue sash was wrapped around the blade. "Who would just leave a sword here?" I asked, picking it up gingerly. It looked like it was in good condition, and had enough weight to to it that it could be a sturdy weapon. I turned it over in my hands a few times and Braixen sniffed it before yelping and backing away.

"What's wrong?" I asked, but she shuffled away as Calem reappeared from the tall grass with Frogadier and a proud grin. I held the sword by the handle and ran to Calem, who had a similar reaction to Braixen when he saw the sword.

"Where did you get that?" He asked, eyeing the weapon.

"Braixen found it on the ground, I think someone just left it here." I replied, holding it out for him to get a better look at. He dropped his new pokeball in his pants pocket before taking the sword from me, and ran his hand along the swirled design of the cover. He slipped the blade out and examined the edge, then handed it back to me.

"Here, you should keep it." He decided.

"But I don't know how to use a sword!" I gasped. Braixen whined and pawed Frogadier, who looked equally as distressed at the mention of keeping the sword.

"You can learn. If anything it'll keep people from messing with you." He reassured, and took the sword from my hand to wrap the blue sash around my waist. "Here, just keep it with you." He backed up, "Makes you look tougher."

"It might make us a little less nervous traveling around…" I trailed off, poking the sword and watching it swing by the sash wrapped around my waist. Braixen whined and cautiously slunk to sniff the sword, but yelped once she crouched down.

"Braixen, it's fine!" I reassured her, but she grabbed the stick from her tail and shook the flower clad tip at it.

"Braixen, ennn!" She growled. Frogadier hopped to her side, and groaned slightly in agreement.

"Come on guys," Calem addressed our pokemon. "Let's go to the Palace, I want some food before we watch the show."

"Great," I agreed, grabbing him by the arm, "I'm feeling a little dizzy."

"Probably because you didn't eat your usual twelve pounds of food for breakfast," he snickered.

He stopped laughing once I pushed him into a bush. But Braixen didn't so much as snort, she was still whining.

 **Break**

The golden Serperior gates were already open, and there were several large crowds of people spread around the palace exterior. There were large signs posted everywhere directing the crowds to the back of the palace, but we were both more concerned about getting food.

"Fooooood!" I whined, dragging Calem around.

"We'll find it, don't worry. It's probably inside somewhere, let's try that first." Calem replied, pulling me towards large stone front doors. "If I don't get some food in you you're going to whine my ears off."

He tugged the door open and shoved me through playfully, "You're so lucky I'm here to talk your ear off!" I pulled him by the coat sleeve in behind me, but as I turned around, I screamed and Calem pulled me into his arms. "What's going on?"

Braixen and Frogadier darted in front of us, a flame erupted on the tip of her stick and water orbs formed in the palms of Frogadier's hands. A woman with green hair was kneeling on the ground, screaming and her hands were holding her face. Blood dripping between her fingers nd onto the carpet. A woman with purple hair came rushing in the room as soon as we did, an evil looking squid pokemon by her side. A Beeheyem held a teenager against the wall, he was gasping for air and screaming at the woman who was yowling in pain.

"We must flee." The purple haired woman said in a low monotone. She lifted a hand, but the bloody green haired woman hissed out one last threat.

" _You will pay!"_ She hissed, then the two women disappeared with the squid pokemon. I looked around in shock, but to my suprise, the Beheeyem stayed. The man he had a grip on moaned slightly and looked as if he were about to faint, but before Calem or I could do anything about it, Braixen jumped from her place in front of us and began attacking it with her stick. It wailed after it's metal frame was dented from her attack, and disappeared, letting go of it's victim in the process. He fell to the floor, and Frogadier, Calem, and I rushed to his side.

"What happened?" I asked, looking in between the man in front of me gasping for air and behind us at the blood soaked floor.

"Who were those people?" Calem asked, wrapping an arm around me. "Frogadier," He barked. Frogadier snapped to attention, "Go look around Parfum Palace, see what's going on."

"You too, Braixen." I added, "Howl if you see any trouble." Both of our pokemon nodded then ran off, and I turned my focus back to in front of us. "Are you alright?" I asked, putting my hand on the shoulder of the still wheezing guy. He looked up at me, his green eyes angry as he stared back. He looked me over, but once he saw the sword around my waist he backed up a bit against the wall. "Are you okay?" I repeated, "What's your name?" I finished.

"Jimmy." He said with a cough.

"What happened?" Calem asked, and ran a hand through his hair like he did when he was nervous.

He erupted, "That bitch stole my pokemon and Rico!" He jumped up and lurched forwards us, causing Calem and I to both jump back.

"Who's Rico?" I asked meekly. He was the only one who I saw here, but I didn't want him to yell anymore.

"This idiot…" He trailed off, but his tone dropped and he looked down. "But, he was my friend. And Ignitus."

"Your pokemon?" I asked him, and he nodded. I looked up at Calem, "What can we do?"

He groaned and jammed his hands into his pockets, "What? Don't drag us into this!" He glared, and wouldn't even look at Jimmy.

I let out an exasperated sigh, "We have to-" I heard Braixen's frantic howl, and stopped mid sentence as I whirled to look at Calem. His eyes were wide as he grabbed my hand, and all three of us ran through the golden doorway.

"It sounded like it was coming from the garden!" Calem guessed, pulling me through the golden doorway. The two large navy double doors were already open, and the three of us ran through it, but even in the night, we could see the chaos that had erupted through the gardens.

" _What the hell is going on here!"_ I screamed.

 **Break**

Potted trees had been lit on fire, and charred patches on the ground were smoking and embers still burned. Screaming people carrying children in their arms ran through the thick smoke. Pokemon and what I could only assume were circus performers ran around the gardens, trying to help whoever they could get into Parfum Palace. Jimmy pushed past Calem, and ran to the stone fountain with a crystal Reshiram at the top and kneeled down to talk to the bawling girl sitting on the edge.

Braixen and Frogadier were waiting at the end of the bridge for us, the burning tip of Braixen's stick made it easier to see them both through the heavy smoke. Calem and I rushed to them, but once we were within eyesight Braixen barked and darted to the fountain with Jimmy and the teary eyed girl sat. "Come on, let's follow them," Calem decided, following Frogadier down the path to the fountain.

Besides Braixen, there were several other pokemon surrounding Jimmy and the blue haired girl. A top hat sat next to her, and her heavy stage makeup was smeared down her face from her tears. A Kecleon and a Mime Jr. sat on either side of her on the fountain ledge, A large blue flower looking pokemon stood elegantly on her left, and a Mismagius floated overhead, each pokemon looked as distressed as it's trainer. Braixen stood behind Jimmy, who had kneeled down on the ground to look her in the eye.

"What happened?" I gasped out, clutching my side as I tried to catch my breath.

She looked up sullenly, "Some woman on a huge bird pokemon stole my Zorua!" She explained, bursting into another fit of tears.

"Was she wearing a weird suit and glasses?" Jimmy asked.

She thought for a minute, then nodded, "She said something about a little brat, and something else about Flare?" She thought out loud, sniffing and wiping her eyes.

"Flares a notorious gang in Kalos…" Calem thought out loud.

"Did they take something from you too?" She asked Calem, but he shook his head.

"No, we just got here."

"Where was that other guy that was with you?" She asked Jimmy.

"He punched one of those Flare girls in the face and they took him and my pokemon." He explained with a defeated sigh.

"I'm sorry.." She gently replied, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He stood up, "We have to find them. I can't let them just take Ignitus." His dirty face had a determined glare, "I can't leave him with those girls."

"But how are you going to get it back?" I finally piped in. " _I can't blame him, if someone took any of my pokemon I'd do whatever I could to get them back."_

"I have to find Zoura too, I'm sure she's so scared." The blue haired girl cried out, jumping up. "You!" She pointed to Calem, "What else do you know about these Flare people?"

He held up his hands, "Just that they were a gang that disbanded a while ago, but I guess they're up and running again."

"We can help you," I offered, but both people in front of me shook their heads.

"I need to do this on my own." Jimmy said firmly. I elbowed Calem it the side at his relieved expression.

"You don't have any pokemon. I should go with you," The girl broke in, and in a strong voice interrupted Jimmy's reply, "We both have lost something."

The Mismagius swirled around its trainer and wailed, the Mime Jr. hopped onto it's trainer's shoulder. "I think it's a good idea." I chimed in.

"You should probably go, Flare might not be that far away." Calem advised.

"Yeah that's a good idea." Jimmy said flatly, and mumbled a goodbye before he pushed past the two of us back into the castle.

"Thank you," The girl bowed, then waved for her pokemon to follow her. Calem and I turned to watch them leave, and turned just in time to see her twirl around, "I'm Astrid, by the way!" She called out.

"Felicity and Calem," I shouted in reply. She gave a thumbs up before disappearing through the golden doorway.

" _I hope they find what they're looking for,"_ I thought.

"I guess we missed the show." Calem commented, looking around. The chaos had calmed down, there were only a few people still here that didn't look like they were part of the circus.

I looked around at the ground. The stonework seemed blurry, and a wave of lightheadedness and nausea spread through me as I looked up to Calem. "Calem," I started, but I mumbled my words. "Cale-"

I fell to the ground, the last thing I saw before I fainted was Calem's worried face. The sword dug into my back, and felt almost like it was burning my shoulder blade.


End file.
